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(JTamljritiigc  Historical  Scries 

EDITED    BY    G.    W.    PROTHERO,     LllT.D. 

FELLOW   OF    king's    COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE, 
AND    PROFESSOR    OF   HISTORY    IN    THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   EDINBURGH. 


OUTLINES 


OF 


ENGLISH  INDUSTRIAL  HISTORY 


y^^^^ 


OUTLINES 


OF 


ENGLISH  INDUSTRIAL  HISTORY 


i^ 


BY 


W.    CUNNINGHAM,    D.D. 

FELLOW   AND    LECfURER    OK   TRINITY   COLLEGE,    CAMKRIDGE, 
AND   TOOKE  PROFESSOR   OF  ECONOMIC   SCIENCE   IN   KING'S  COLLEGE,   LONDON, 

AND 

ELLEN    A.    McARTHUR, 

LECTURER  OF  GIRTON  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE, 
AND  LECTURER  TO  THE  CAMBRIDGE  LOCAL  LECTURES  SYNDICATE. 


Wctu  HorU 
THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON:   MACMILLAN   &  CO.,  LTD. 
1896 

AU  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1895, 
By  MACMILLAN   AND   CO. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  January,  1895.      Reprinted  July, 
1896. 


yortoooft  ^rcss 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  -  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


PREFACE. 


This  book,  like  the  remainder  of  the  series  of  which 
it  is  a  part,  is  intended  for  the  use  of  any  persons  who  may 
be  anxious  to  understand  the  nature  of  existing  political 
conditions  ;  but  it  differs  from  the  other  volumes,  inasmuch 
as  it  fixes  attention  on  English  rather  than  on  European 
history,  and  sketches,  from  one  special  point  of  view,  the 
course  of  events  over  a  very  long  period  of  time.  It  has 
also  been  thought  unnecessary  to  give  any  bibliography  of 
this  wide  subject,  as  students  who  desire  to  procure  further 
guidance  will  be  able  to  obtain  it  from  the  larger  work, 
on  the  Growth  of  English  Industry  and  Commerce,  published 
by  the  Cambridge  University  Press. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  depict  the  condition 
of  English  industry  and  trade  with  the  assistance  of  maps, 
but  a  chronological  table  has  been  added,  based  on  a 
suggestion  for  which  the  authors  are  indebted  to  Mr. 
Graham  Wallas  ;  it  is  hoped  that  this  may  serve  to  give  a 
conspectus   of  the    subject,  and   to   present   in  a  graphic 


vi  Preface. 

manner  in  point  of  time  the  course  of  industrial  development 
as  treated  in  the  following  pages. 

The  book  was  planned  before  the  General  Editor  under- 
took the  supervision  of  the  series,  but  the  writers  have  to 
thank  Dr.  Prothero  cordially  for  many  suggestions  made 
during  the  course  of  their  work. 

W.  C. 
E.  A.  M. 
A^ovember  1894. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  scope  of  industrial  history 
Man  and  his  surroundings  . 
Social  groups  and  individuals 
Direction  of  change   . 
The  present  and  the  past    . 


PAGE 

I 

2 

3 
5 
5 


CHAPTER   I. 

Immigrants  to  Britain. 

6.  The  English  Conquest         .......  8 

7.  Tlie  Roman  missionaries     .......  9 

8.  The  Danes  and  Northmen  .......  10 

9.  Norman  soldiers  and  immigrants  .  .  .  .  .11 

10.  The  consolidation  of  the  English  nation       ....  13 

11.  Influx  of  weavers  under  Edward  III,  Elizabeth  &c.      .         .  13 

12.  Effects  on  industrial  life      .         .         .         .         .         .         •  '5 


CHAPTER   II. 

Physical  Conditions. 

13.  The  relative  character  of  natural  resources 

14.  Mineral  wealth.     Tin,  lead,  coal,  iron 

15.  Suitability  for  tillage  and  forestry 

16.  Pasture-farming  and  grazing 

17.  Fisheries  and  seamanship   . 

18.  Roads,  rivers  and  canals 

vii 


17 
18 

19 
20 
20 


viii  Contents. 

PAGE 

19.  Water  power 23 

20.  Insular  character  and  royal  power 23 

21.  Facilities  for  maritime  commerce  .....  25 

22.  Physical  bases  of  our  prosperity 25 

CHAPTER    III. 

The  Manors. 


28 
30 

34 
36 
37 

41 
42 

43 


23.  Parochial,  municipal  and  national  life  .... 

24.  Manorial  organisation  ....... 

25.  The  early  history  of  the  Manor     ..... 

26.  Manors  in  thirteenth  century  records    .... 

27.  The  officials  and  the  villeins  ..... 

28.  Immediate  effects  of  Black  Death.     Stock  and  land  leases 

Sheep-farming  ........ 

29.  The  Peasants'  revolt     ....... 

30.  Repression  of  revolt  and  subsequent  decay  of  villeinage 

CHAPTER   IV. 
The  Towns. 

31.  Manors  and  towns.     Fiscal  responsibility     ....       46 

32.  Early  England.     Monastic  and  Danish  influence  in  favour  of 

town  life  ..........       47 

33.  Domesday  towns.    Rural  character.     Conflicting  jurisdiction       49 

34.  The  struggle  for  chartered  liberties.     Inter-municipal  com- 

merce       ..........  50 

35.  Fiscal  contributions  and  internal  administration    ...  52 

36.  Gilds  merchant  and  weavers'  gilds         .....  54 

37.  Affiliation  and  representation.      National  control  of  com- 

merce       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         -57 

38.  Craft-gilds,  their  relation  to  municipal  authority  and  to  gilds 

merchant  ..........       60 

39.  The  rise  of  the  livery  companies  ......       63 

40.  Fifteenth  century  difficulties  between  gilds,  and  with  jour- 

neymen and  apjirentices    .......       64 

41.  Craft-gilds  under  Henry  VII  and  Henry  VIII.     National 

control  of  industry     ........       65 


Contents. 


IX 


CHAPTER   V. 

The  beginnings  of  National  Economic  Life. 

PAGE 

42.  Personal  influence  of  the  kings.     Continental  connexions     .       69 

43.  Regulation  of  foreign  commerce  and  progress  of  internal 

development      .         .  .  .         .  .  .  .         -71 

44.  Edward  I.     National  unity  and  national  institutions     .         .       73 

45.  Edward  III.      Foreign  and  commercial  policy       ...       74 

46.  Aliens  in  England.     The  staple    ......       76 

47.  New  developments  under  Richard  II    .  .  .         .  -78 

48.  Plenty  and  power  ........       79 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  various  sides  of  National  and  Economic  Life. 
I.    The  Food  Supply. 


49. 
BO- 
S'- 

52- 
53- 
54- 
55- 


Migration  of  the  rural  population 
Restrictions  on  sheep-farming 
Maintenance  of  the  high  price  of  corn 
Changed  conditions  of  corn-growing 
Scarcity  and  the  allowance  system 
Excuses  for  and  effects  of  the  Corn  Law 


)fiSi5 


Political  and  economic  results  of  its  repeal 


82 

83 
84 

85 
85 
87 
88 


II.    Industrial  Life. 

56.  Labourers'  wages 

57.  Poor  relief  under  Elizabeth  . 

58.  The  Act  of  Settlement  (1662) 

59.  Employment  for  the  poor 

60.  Allowances  and  the  new  Poor  La\ 

61.  Internal  communication 

62.  Quality  and  price  of  bread  and  cloth 

63.  Patents  and  monopolies 

64.  Alien  workmen.     Incorporated  companies 

65.  Protection    ...... 


91 
92 

93 
94 
95 
96 
98 


Contents. 


66.  Economic  freedom  for  individuals 

67.  Freedom  to  emigrate    . 

68.  Freedom  to  change  employment  . 

69.  Freedom  to  associate    . 

70.  Laissez  faire  and  philanthropic  legislation 

71.  Trade  Unions 


III.  Commercial  Development. 

72.  Municipal  and  national  regulation 

73.  The  perils  of  the  sea     ..... 

74.  Commercial  treaties.     Trading  companies    . 

75.  The  protection  of  the  coasts 

76.  The  New  World  and  new  routes  to  the  East 

77.  Joint-stock  and  regulated  companies     . 

78.  The  East  Indin  Company      .... 

79.  The  Navy  and  joint-stock  companies    . 


IV.    Economic  Policy. 

80.  Elements  of  power.     Shipping  and  treasure 

81.  Objects  and  effects  of  the  early  navigation  acts     . 

82.  Effects  on  Holland,  Scotland,  Ireland  and  the  colonies 

83.  Subsidiary    callings.      Fisheries,    ship-building    and    naval 

stores         ....... 

84.  The  buUionist  policy  for  treasure 

85.  The  mercantilists  and  the  East  India  Company 

86.  The  general  and  particular  balance  of  trade 

87.  The  balance  of  trade  as  a  supposed  criterion  of 

trial  prosperity  of  a  nation 

88.  Individual  interests  and  national  prosperity  . 

89.  Colonial  interests  and  national  power 

90.  The  West  Indian  colonies  and  Virginia 

91.  The  Northern  colonies.     Economic  dependence 

92.  Irish  competition   in   the  woollen   manufacture. 

linen  trade         ...... 

93.  Whig  jealousy  of  Irish  prosperity.     Irish  cattle 

94.  English  and  Irish  protection.     The  Union     . 


the  indus 


The 


Irish 


Contents. 


XI 


CHAPTER   VII. 


Money,  Credit,  and  Finance. 

95.  Barter.     Money  payment  and  competition 

96.  Standard  silver,  and  the  debasement  of  the  coinage    . 

97.  Fall  in  the  value  of  silver  and  rise  of  prices 

98.  Difficulty  in  finding  or  applying  a  standard  of  values  fur 

long  periods    ......... 

99.  The  recoinage  of  1696         ....... 

100.     The  gold  standard       ........ 

loi.     The  Bank  of  England  and  bank  notes         .         ,  .         . 

102.  Loans,  the  Bank  rate  and  the  Act  of  1844 

103.  Payment  in  kind  and    by  service.     Arbitrary  and   casual 

taxation  .......... 

104.  Tenths  and  fifteenths.     The  Tudor  subsidies 

105.  Financial  difficulties  of  the  Stuarts 

106.  Parliamentary  and  Restoration  finance 

107.  Public  borrowing.     The  Bank     . 

108.  The  incidence  and  pressure  of  taxation 

109.  The  advantages  of  a  money  economy 


PAGE 

140 

142 
144 

145 

146 

147 

148 

150 

153 

155 
157 
159 

160 
162 

165 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Agriculture. 


no,-  Extensive  cultivation  .... 

111.  Diminishing  returns    .... 

112.  Open  fields 

113.  The  two-field  and  three-field  systems  . 

1 14.  The  Black  Death  and  sheep-farming  . 

115.  Convertible  husbandry.     Sixteenth  century 

116.  Capitalist  pasture-farming  and  rents    . 

117.  Seventeenth  century  husbandry  . 

118.  The  agricultural  revolution 

119.  Decay  of  the  yeomanry 

120.  Permanent  improvements   . 

121.  Past  and  future  ..... 


enclosin<: 


166 
168 
169 
172 

175 
178 
181 
182 
185 
190 
194 
195 


Contents. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Labour  and  Capital. 

122.  Division  of  labour  in  industry  and  agriculture     . 

123.  Capital  in  the  cloth  trade,  and  its  services  to  labour 

124.  Capital  as  supplying  implements 

125.  Dependence  of  labour  on  capital 

126.  Conflicting  interests  of  capital  and  labour 

127.  Moral  and  physical  degradation 

128.  The  course  of  the  industrial  revolution 

129.  Machinery  and  the  expansion  of  trade 

130.  The  proletariat.     Stability  and  progress 

131.  Individual  and  state  management 


PAGE 

198 
201 
205 
206 
210 
214 
219 
226 
231 
235 


CHAPTER   X. 

Results  of  increased  Commercial  Intercoursj:. 

132.  International  rivalry  and  competition  between  nations         .  241 

133.  Advantages  of  commercial  intercourse  to  consumers  .         .  244 

134.  Commercial  intercourse  as  the  solvent  of  social  organisa- 

tion         ..........  246 

135.  Modern  complications  and  individual  duty  .         .         •251 

136.  Conclusion-           .........  253 

Chronological  Table 256 

Index 261 


OUTLINES     OF     ENGLISH     INDUS- 
TRIAL   HISTORY. 


INTRODUCTION. 

I.    The  industrial  history  of  England  is  a  large  subject; 
it  is  the  story  of  the  material  side  of  the  life  of    jhe  scope 
a  great  nation.     English  agriculture — ■  with  its   of  industrial 
magnificent  breeds  of  sheep,  cattle  and  horses,      '^*°''y- 
and  its  ingenious  implements  —  is  the  most  enterprising  in 
the  world.      English  manufacturing  skill  —  both  in  textile 
fabrics  and  in  hardware  —  has  a  high  repute  in  all  parts  of 
the  globe.      English  ships  traverse  the  most  distant  oceans 
and  do  the  carrying  trade  for  many  of  our  neighbours.     Yet 
all  these  great  developments    have    come   from  such  very 
small  beginnings  that  it  is  not   easy  to  trace  the  gradual 
steps  by  which  primitive    agriculture,   industry  and  trade 
have  attained  their  present  proportions. 

Industrial  History  deals  with  only  one  aspect  of  our 
national  life,  but  the  subject  is  most  important.  Material 
needs  cannot  be  neglected  or  forgotten  with  impunity  in 
this  world.  However  high  his  ideals  may  be,  a  man  must 
have  bread  to  eat,  if  he  is  to  enjoy  health  and  strength 
and  be  able  to  devote  himself  to  intellectual  and  artistic 
pursuits.  Material  prosperity  too  is  necessary  for  a  nation, 
if  it  is  to  be  a  power  among  other  peoples  and  to    exercise 


2  Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History. 

a  real  influence  in  the  world.  Material  prosperity  need 
not  be  aimed  at  as  an  end  in  itself,  and  it  has  been  and  may 
be  misused  both  by  individuals  and  by  nations.  Still  it  is 
well  worth  having,  because  it  opens  up  the  opportunity, 
both  to  an  individual  and  a  nation,  of  leading  a  noble  and 
influential  life.  It  does  not,  in  itself,  constitute  greatness, 
but  it  is  a  condition  without  which  national  greatness  is 
impossible.  Hence  the  story  of  the  material  progress  of 
England  gives  us  a  means  of  surveying  the  opportunities 
which  Englishmen  have  enjoyed  in  the  past,  and  are 
enjoying  to-day,  and  also  of  realising  our  responsibilities 
as  a  nation. 

2.  The  subject  is  very  large  and  complicated.  No 
Man  and  his  P^^t  of  it  cau  bc  fully  treated  in  a  volume 
surroundings,  of  Outlines,  and  some  topics  can  hardly  be 
touched  on  at  all.  It  is  well,  therefore,  to  forewarn  the 
reader  at  once,  as  to  the  method  of  treating  the  subject 
which  has  been  adopted  in  the  following  pages.  In  the 
opening  chapters  (§§  6 — 22)  attention  is  called  to  two  ele- 
ments which  are  involved  in  all  material  progress.  There 
is  need,  on  the  one  hand,  of  the  skill  and  energy  of  human 
beings,  and  on  the  other  of  appropriate  physical  conditions 
for  the  exercise  of  these  rational  powers.  We  must  think 
of  man,  and  also  of  his  environment, —  the  active  worker, 
and  the  things  with  and  upon  which  he  works.  In  tracing 
English  material  progress  we  must  go  back  to  the  time  when 
the  English  race  was  transplanted  to  this  island,  and  note 
the  different  elements  which  have  since  been  grafted  on 
that  stock.  It  is  curious  to  observe  how  often  and  how 
effectively  that  race  has  been  replenished  with  fresh  blood 
and  alien  elements.      (Chapter  I.) 

We  must  also  turn  our  attention  to  the  surroundings  in 
which  and  on  which  this  much  mingled  race  has  worked- 


Introduction.  3 

Climate  and  soil  have  had  much  to  do  with  our  agricul- 
tural development.  Easy  internal  communications  and  rich 
mineral  products  have  been  important  factors  in  our  in- 
dustrial progress,  while  our  maritime  position  and  the  mere 
character  of  the  coast-line  have  favoured  our  advance  as  a 
naval  power.  (Chapter  II.)  Human  energy  and  material 
conditions  have  co-operated  together  at  every  step  of  prog- 
ress, and  it  is  by  their  united  working  that  the  whole  result 
has  been  attained. 

3.  These  elements  have  not,  however,  worked  casually 
and  blindly.  There  has  been  conscious  and  social  groups 
deliberate  effort  throughout  the  whole  story.  ^""^  individuals. 
Men  have  set  different  objects  before  them  ;  sometimes  an 
advantage  that  lay  but  a  little  way  ahead,  sometimes  a  far- 
reaching  scheme.  With  these  different  aims  before  them, 
they  have  seriously  set  themselves  to  apply  human  skill  to 
available  conditions,  and  many  of  their  schemes  have  in- 
volved combined  effort,  and  could  not  be  accomplished  by 
individuals  singly  and  alone.  If  we  are  to  follow  out  these 
conscious  efforts,  we  must  try  to  realise  the  different  forms 
of  social  organisation  which  have  been  employed  for  eco- 
nomic purposes  in  the  past.  To  understand  earlier  history, 
and  to  appreciate  the  interest  of  primitive  or  medieval  insti- 
tutions which  survive  in  our  own  times,  we  must  divest  our- 
selves of  many  of  our  ordinary  habits  of  thought  and  lay 
aside  the  assumptions  we  usually  make  in  the  present  day. 
Not  till  comparatively  recent  times  has  there  been  complete 
economic  unity  in  England,  or  the  possibility  of  a  free  flow 
of  labour  and  capital  to  different  parts  of  the  country. 
Neither  the  free  play  of  individual  enterprise  nor  of  com- 
petition was  possible  in  primitive  society,  while  State  inter- 
ference was  equally  unthought  of,  when  there  was  no  effective 
central  government.    For  centuries  each  little  village  was  a 


4  Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History. 

more  or  less  isolated  community  which  catered  successfully 
for  its  own  wants,  and  carried  on  infrequent  and  occasional 
intercourse  with  other  places.  In  examining  the  history 
of  the  manors  (Chapter  III)  we  see  that  the  ideal  of  the 
prudent  man  in  the  thirteenth  century  was  to  render  his 
own  estate  self-sufficing,  and  thus  to  keep  it  apart  from  the 
rest  of  the  realm.  The  towns,  as  they  grew  up  (Chapter 
IV),  pursued  a  somewhat  similar  policy.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances it  is  difficult  to  say  much  of  the  condition  or 
progress  of  England  as  a  whole  until  the  time  of  Richard  II, 
when  the  growth  of  a  national  economic  Ufe  (Chapter  V) 
had  so  far  advanced  that  we  can  describe  it  and  trace  its 
subsequent  developments  in  different  directions. 

In  the  fourteenth  and  preceding  centuries  we  have  to 
deal  chiefly  with  the  condition  and  progress  of  different 
manors,  or  of  towns,  each  of  which  was  then  economically 
distinct  from  the  rest.  From  the  fourteenth  century  on- 
wards these  local  organisations  have  come  to  be  of  less 
economic  importance ;  they  have  long  since  ceased  to  be 
more  than  subsidiary  elements  in  English  economic  life. 
From  the  time  of  Richard  II  we  can  follow  the  gradual 
growth  of  national  organisation  until  it  exercised  effective 
control  over  all  the  various  developments  of  industrial  life 
throughout  the  country  (Chapter  VI)  ;  and  we  can  examine 
the  aims  which  came  to  be  more  clearly  recognised.  In  the 
time  of  Elizabeth,  the  period  of  transition  was  over.  Laws 
and  institutions  were  devised  for  the  regulation  of  grazing 
and  tillage,  of  industry  and  commerce,  and  a  definite  scheme 
of  economic  policy  was  carefully  thought  out  and  deliberately 
pursued.  The  efforts  to  modify  and  maintain  it  under  chang- 
ing circumstances  eventually  proved  impracticable.  Adam 
Smith  showed  that  such  efforts  at  regulating  industry  in  the 
national  interest  were  no  longer  beneficial,  and  during  the 


Introduction.  5 

first  half  of  the  present  century  attempts  of  the  kind  were 
deliberately  discarded. 

4.  The  description  of  the  types  of  organisation  which 
have  existed  in  England,  and  which  have  been  Direction  of 
superseded  in  turn,  serves  to  bring  out  the  eco-  change, 
nomic  structure  of  society  at  different  periods.  It  is  also 
desirable  to  notice  the  direction  and  the  nature  of  the 
changes  which  have  occurred  in  the  great  departments 
of  economic  life ;  in  the  use  of  money  and  in  finance 
(Chapter  VII),  in  agriculture  (Chapter  VIII),  and  in  man- 
ufacturing (Chapter  X).  The  subject  of  money  and  the 
medium  of  exchange  comes  in  the  forefront,  and  dominates 
the  whole  for  a  very  simple  reason.  The  general  course  of 
economic  change  of  every  kind  in  England  may  be  most 
easily  summarised  by  saying  that  the  use  of  money  and  of 
bargaining  has  gradually  permeated  every  department  of 
life  ;  each  has  been  reconstituted  under  this  influence.  The 
changes  from  natural  to  money  economy  are  most  obviously 
exemplified  in  the  affairs  of  state  ;  but  the  increased  preva- 
lence of  money  bargaining  has  been  a  most  powerful  factor 
in  the  change  from  customary  to  competition  prices ;  in  the 
introduction  first  of  capitalist  pasture  farming  and  then  of 
capitalist  tillage  (Chapter  VIII);  and  in  that  intervention 
of  capital  in  industry  which  made  more  minute  division  of 
labour  possible  and  led  the  way  for  the  industrial  revolution 
(Chapter  IX).  In  the  concluding  chapter  an  attempt  is 
made  to  show  how  this  thorough-going  money  economy, 
exemplified  in  the  freedom  of  commercial  intercourse,  has 
reacted  on  social  institutions  and  brought  into  being  the 
anxious  problems  of  the  present  day, 

5.  The  story  of  the  past  is  full  of  varied  interest,  but 
there  is  one  aspect  in  which  it  appeals  with  special  force. 
It   gives   us   a   clue    to   unravel  much  that  is  strange  and 


6  Ojttlincs  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History. 

difficult  in  the  present  day.  Our  existing  society  is  the 
The  Present  outcomc  of  the  life  of  preceding  ages.  Much 
and  the  Past,  of  its  cvil,  as  wcU  as  much  of  what  is  best 
in  it,  is  a  heritage  from  our  forefathers.  Hence  we  are 
forced  to  turn  to  the  past  if  we  wish  to  understand  how 
present  conditions  have  arisen.  We  may  often  have  to  go 
back  a  long  distance  in  time  if  we  would  trace  out  the 
factors  which  have  combined  to  produce  the  economic 
regime  under  which  we  live.  It  has  been  a  constant  aim, 
in  compiling  the  following  pages,  to  explain  to  some  ex- 
tent the  genesis  of  the  present  by  a  study  of  the  past. 
The  story  has  been  carried  on  to  a  point  at  which  some 
of  the  great  problems  of  our  own  day  loom  into  sight ; 
and  occasionally  an  opinion  on  matters  in  dispute  has  been 
hazarded  with  a  view  to  indicating  how  closely  the  experi- 
ence of  the  past  is  connected  with  the  struggles  that  lie 
before  us.  Whether  the  future  shall  confirm  the  opinions 
here  expressed  or  not,  they  will  at  least  serve  to  illustrate 
the  importance  of  trying  to  view  our  new  difficulties  in  the 
light  of  experience  drawn  from  bygone  times.  We  may 
see  how  the  new  problems  have  arisen,  and  how  similar 
difficulties  have  been  met,  while  we  may  also  be  saved  the 
disappointment  of  trying  a  road  which  has  been  already 
proved  impracticable. 

It  may  be  hoped,  however,  that  some  readers  will  not 
be  satisfied  with  these  brief  outlines,  but  will  feel  the  fas- 
cination of  trying  to  understand  the  past  so  strongly,  as  to 
wish  to  advance  to  a  fuller  knowledge  of  the  industrial  and 
commercial  life  of  our  forefathers.  There  are  many  books 
easily  procurable  in  which  they  can  find  additional  informa- 
tion on  every  one  of  the  subjects  touched  upon.  Professor 
Ashley's  Economic  History  contains  most  interesting  chapters 
on  the  Middle  Ages.     The  Discourse  of  tlie  Common    Weal 


Introductioii.  •  7 

gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  transition  in  Tudor  times,  and 
this,  as  the  work  of  a  contemporary  author,  is  of  pecuHar 
interest.  Mr.  Rowland  Prothero's  Pioneers  and  Progress 
of  English  Farming  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Webb's  Trade 
Unions  deal  with  aspects  of  the  recent  history  of  rural  and 
of  manufacturing  industry. 

Others  may  perhaps  wish,  not  so  much  to  extend  their 
reading  on  particular  points  as  to  know  the  grounds  for  the 
various  statements  made  in  this  volume.  Authorities  have 
been  rarely  mentioned  in  these  pages,  because  it  is  easy  for 
any  one  to  find  them  by  referring  to  the  same  topics  as 
treated  in  the  Growth  of  English  Industry  and  Commerce. 
This  larger  book  gives  fuller  information  on  many  points, 
and  will,  at  any  rate,  serve  as  a  guide  to  those  who  are 
anxious  to  get  to  the  solid  rock,  and  to  base  their  knowledge 
on  a  study  of  original  authorities. 


CHAPTER    I. 

IMMIGRANTS    TO   BRITAIN. 

6.  English  History  may  be  said  to  begin  with  the 
The  English  invasion  of  the  Roman  province  of  Britain  by 
Conquest.  Teutonic  bands  about  449  a.d.  The  progress 
of  the  Englisli  invaders  was  slow;  nearly  one  hundred  and 
thirty  years  elapsed  before  they  had  cleared  the  Western 
Midlands,  before,  in  fact,  the  land  of  the  English  took  a 
definite  and,  to  some  extent,  a  permanent  shape.  The 
Romanised  Britons,  or  Welsh,  were  confined  in  Wales  and 
Cornwall  or  were  driven  back  towards  the  northern  part  of 
the  island.  It  is  a  great  question  how  far  the  English  con- 
quest was  complete,  or  how  far  elements  of  Roman  civilisa- 
tion survived  through  the  period  of  the  barbarian  invasions, 
as  was  the  case  in  sojne  other  parts  of  Europe.  But  though 
some  few  names  and  terms  were  embodied  in  the  new 
speech,  and  some  groups  of  inhabitants  continued  to  exist 
as  elements  in  the  new  social  order,  the  evidence  drawn 
from  language,  religion  and  law  combines  to  show  that 
hardly  anything  of  Roman  civilisation  survived.  This  con- 
clusion is  confirmed  by  other  considerations,  for  archaeo- 
logical evidence  seems  to  show  that  the  towns  were  either 
deserted  or  destroyed.     Where  so  much  was  swept  away  it 


Chap,  i.]  Iimnigrants  to  Britain.  g 

seems  unlikely  that  agriculture  as  practised  in  the  Roman 
vi//s  would  survive.  We  have  no  sufficient  evidence  that 
these  villswere  the  direct  ancestors  of  our  English  villages, 
or  that  there  was  continuity  in  rural  life  from  the  period  of 
Roman  domination  to  subsequent  times. 

On  the  whole  it  appears  that  the  conquest  of  England 
was  so  far  complete,  that  the  basis  of  our  civilisation  may 
be  said  to  be  Teutonic.  Whatever  elements  of  an  earlier 
civilisation  were  absorbed  by  the  English  invaders  were  very 
few.  There  were  of  course  some.  In  the  Forest  of  Dean 
and  near  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire  the  old  inhabitants  pro- 
bably continued  to  pursue  their  avocations  under  new  mas- 
ters. In  many  households  there  might  be  domestic  slaves, 
who  maintained  some  tradition  of  the  old  arts,  language, 
and  religion,  but  these  elements  appear  to  have  been  com- 
paratively slight,  and  to  have  had  little  effect  on  the  growth 
of  the  newly  transplanted  English  stock. 

The  completeness  of  the  change  from  the  civilisation 
of  the  Roman  province  to  the  simple  life  of  the  English 
tribes  does  not,  however,  seem  so  surprising,  if  we  remem- 
ber that  society  in  the  Province  of  Britain  was  much  disin- 
tegrated before  the  English  invasion  began.  Besides  this, 
the  conquest  of  the  invaders  was  so  gradual  that  the 
Romanised  Britons  were  able  to  withdraw  before  the  foe, 
and  were  thus  saved  from  the  necessity  of  submitting  to 
the  alternatives  of  slavery  or  death. 

7.  Although  the  English  settlers  seemed  to  absorb  so 
little  from  their  precursors  in  Britain,  they  did  xhe  Roman 
not  long  remain  unaffected  by  outside  influ-  missionaries. 
ence.  The  British  Christians,  who  had  been  ousted  or 
driven  to  the  West,  appear  to  have  held  aloof  from  their  con- 
querors; but  the  missionary  zeal  of  the  Columban  monas- 
teries in  the  North  and  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  himself,  was 


lO        OiLtlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

soon  brought  to  bear  upon  the  heathen  English.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  striking  instances  of  the  manner  in  which  reli- 
gious and  economic  progress  have  been  connected.  The 
communication,  which  was  opened  with  much  searching  of 
heart  as  a  dangerous  religious  duty,  came  to  be  of  the  first 
importance  for  trading  and  other  purposes.  England, 
when  converted  to  Christianity,  was  still  insular  but  was  no 
longer  isolated.  The  monastic  houses  were  centres  of  learn- 
ing as  well  as  of  religion,  for  the  legal  conceptions  of  the 
later  Roman  Empire  were  introduced,  under  the  influence 
of  the  monks,  and  affected  the  charters  and  wills.  The 
frequent  communication  of  churchmen  with  Rome  was 
combined  with  opportunities  for  trade,  and  did  something 
for  the  improvement  of  the  arts  of  life.  The  very  remains 
which  survived  from  the  Roman  occupation  of  Britain  were 
now  turned  to  better  purpose;  the  ruins  of  Roman  ramparts 
and  towns  afforded  building  materials,  while  their  military 
roads  and  bridges  were  available  for  internal  communica- 
tion. Under  Christian  influence  the  English  tribes  came 
to  be  more  definitely  organised  under  kingly  rule,  while 
frequent  and  friendly  communication  with  more  civilised 
neighbours  became  possible. 

8.     Very  different  in  character  was  the  next  influence 
which  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  English, 
and  North-     They   werc    attacked    by   their    kinsfolk,    the 
'"^"-  Danes  and  Northmen,  and  at  first  it  appeared 

as  if  their  settled  life  and  new  organisation  had  unfitted  them 
to  hold  the  land  which  their  fathers  had  conquered.  The 
Northmen  came  at  first  as  plunderers  to  ravage.  The 
coasts  were  defenceless,  for  Englishmen  seemed  to  have  lost 
their  old  skill  in  seamanship,  and  the  Northmen  were  even 
able  to  sail  up  the  rivers,  and  to  carry  on  their  depredations 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  country.     The  English  rallied  under 


I.]  Immigrants  to  Britain.  1 1 

Alfred  (871 — 901),  and  after  a  struggle  peace  was  made 
with  the  new  invaders.  Nearly  half  the  country  was  treated 
as  Danelagh,  since  it  was  occupied  by  Danish  rather  than 
by  English  inhabitants,  and  was  ruled  by  Danish  rather  than 
by  English  law. 

Peace  was  soon  followed  by  a  practical  amalgamation, 
and  then  it  became  apparent  how  much  the  English  gained 
by  the  infusion  of  this  new  element.  The  English  were 
satisfied  with  rural  life;  they  were  little  attracted  by  the 
towns  which  the  Romans  had  built,  and  they  did  not  devote 
themselves  to  commercial  pursuits  or  to  manufacturing 
articles  for  sale.  The  Danes,  though  so  closely  allied  in 
race,  appear  to  have  been  men  of  a  different  type.  They 
were  great  as  traders  and  also  as  seamen.  We  may  learn  how 
great  their  prowess  was  from  the  records  of  their  voyages  to 
Iceland,  Greenland,  and  America,  from  the  accounts  of  their 
expeditions  to  the  White  Sea  and  the  Baltic,  and  from  their 
commerce  with  such  distant  places  as  the  Crimea  and 
Arabia.  Their  settlements  in  this  country  were  among  the 
earliest  of  the  English  towns  to  exhibit  signs  of  activity. 
Not  only  were  the  Danes  traders;  they  were  also  skilled 
in  metal-work  and  other  industrial  pursuits.  England  has 
attained  a  character  for  her  shipping  and  has  won  the  su- 
premacy of  the  world  in  manufacturing;  it  almost  seems 
as  if  she  were  indebted  on  those  sides  of  life,  on  which  she 
is  most  successful,  to  the  fresh  energy  and  enterprise  en- 
grafted by  Danish  settlers  and  conquerors.  By  the  efforts  of 
Roman  missionaries  she  had  been  brought  into  contact  with 
remains  of  Roman  civilisation,  but  by  the  infusion  of  the 
Danish  element  she  was  drawn  into  close  connexion  with 
the  most  energetic  of  the  Northern  races. 

9.  The  next  great  immigration  into  England  was  due 
to  men  who  were  closely  allied  to  the  Danes,  but  who  had, 


12        Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.       [Chap. 

for  some  time,  been  settled  on  the  Southern  side  of  the 
.,  Ensflish    Channel.       With     the    accession    of 

Norman  o 

soldiers  and  Edward  the  Confessor,  Norman  influence 
immigrants,  -^gg^^j^  ^q  make  itself  felt  in  England.  Norman 
fashions  were  in  vogue  at  court,  and  Norman  or  Burgundian 
artisans  apparently  settled  in  considerable  numbers  on  Eng- 
lish soil,  but  after  Duke  William  had  established  his  posi- 
tion as  English  king,  this  immigration  seems  to  have  taken 
place  on  a  much  larger  scale.  Domesday  Book  shows  that 
many  English  estates  were  held  by  Continental  barons,  and 
in  their  households  or  on  their  lands  there  would  be  em- 
ployment for  many  of  their  followers.  We  know  that  a 
number  of  Flemings  were  attracted  to  the  land  whither 
Queen  Maltilda  had  gone,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  same  sort  of  tie  would  lead  many  to  settle  on  the 
new  estates  of  the  Norman  tenants-in-chief. 

But  though  this  incursion  of  foreign  artisans  was  impor- 
tant, it  was  not  the  most  striking  economic  result  of  the 
Norman  Conquest.  The  Continental  possessions  of  the 
English  kings  were  so  wide  that  the  kingdom  came  to  be 
one  province  of  a  large  realm.  Her  destinies  were  inextrica- 
bly involved  with  European  politics,  and  even  when  she 
regained  her  insular  character,  by  the  loss  of  Anjou  and 
Normandy,  she  still  continued  to  be  a  part  of  the  European 
system.  The  ecclesiastical  connexion  with  Rome  had  come 
to  be  far  closer  in  regard  to  many  matters  of  church  gov- 
ernment and  ecclesiastical  taxation.  The  intellectual  and 
religious  movements  of  Europe  were  felt  in  our  island;  the 
rate  of  progress  was  different  in  this  and  in  other  lands, 
but  the  course  of  economic  development  was  similar  in 
many  ways.  The  rise  of  the  religious  orders,  the  influence 
of  the  Crusades,  the  growth  of  municipalities,  the  devasta- 
tions of  pestilence,  the  revival  of  learning,  the  discovery  of 


na- 
tion. 


I.]  Immigrants  to  Britain.  13 

the  new  world,  the  growth  of  nationalities,  were  events 
which  affected  the  whole  of  Christendom,  and  produced 
similar  economic  results  in  many  lands.  And  it  was  with 
the  Norman  Conquest  that  England  entered  for  the  first 
time  into  the  common  life  of  Christian  Europe, 

10.  If  the  first  two  centuries  of  Norman  and  Angevin 
rule  were  important  because  of  the  new  rela-   ^^ 

^  Theconsoli- 

tions  with  the  rest  of  Christendom,  they  were  dation  of  the 
also  marked  by  great  changes  within  the  realm.  English 
By  the  reign  of  Edward  I  the  new  elements 
introduced  subsequently  to  the  Battle  of  Hastings  (1066) 
had  practically  coalesced  with  the  English  and  the  Danish 
immigrants  to  form  one  people.  This  united  race  had  com- 
mon institutions;  there  was  one  Parliament  in  which  the 
different  parts  of  the  country  and  the  different  classes  of  the 
community  were  at  last  represented,  and  the  broad  lines  of 
national  life  and  development  were  clearly  defined.  This 
consolidation  of  national  life  had  its  counterpart  in  the  con- 
solidation of  municipal  life  as  well,  for  during  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries  the  various  elements  which  had 
existed  side  by  side  in  different  towns  coalesced,  and  old 
internal  jealousies  gave  way  to  popular  municipal  govern- 
ment. The  towns,  like  the  nation,  thus  came  to  have  an 
organic  life  and  free  institutions. 

11.  The  national  and  town  life  of  Englishmen  was  thus 
constituted   and   organised   under    Edward    I,   influx  of 
and  there  has  never  been  since  then  a  large  Reavers  un- 

der  Edward 

incursion  of    foreign  conquerors,  or  of   aliens  iii, Elizabeth, 
who  came  in  the  train  of  a  conqueror.     But  for  ^""^  '^'^'■• 
all  that  the  immigration  of  foreigners  has  continued  time 
after  time.     Definite  political  or  economic  reasons  have 
attracted  settlers  to  this  country,  and  they  have  sometimes 


14        Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

been  gladly  welcomed  by  the  government  as  useful,  though 
extraneous,  elements. 

(a)  The  first  of  these  immigrations  was  that  of  the 
Flemings,  who  were  invited  to  this  country  by  Edward  III. 
The  fact  that  England  was  a  wool-producing  country,  and 
supplied  the  raw  material  for  the  Flemish  manufacturers 
brought  England  at  an  early  time  into  close  relations  with 
the  Low  Countries.  Edward  III,  who  was  keenly  alive  to 
commercial  considerations  in  all  his  political  undertakings, 
appears  to  have  seen  that  it  would  be  possible,  and  ultimately 
profitable,  to  transplant  the  manufacture  from  Flanders  to 
England,  while  local  disturbances  rendered  many  of  the 
artisans  willing  to  come.  Though  there  had,  doubtless,  been 
much  weaving  in  this  country  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries,  the  trade  appears  to  have  received  an  impetus  in 
consequence  of  this  new  immigration  and  to  have  grown 
rapidly,  so  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  English  wool- 
clip  was  subsequently  retained  for  manufacture  at  home. 

(/^)  There  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  a  considerable 
number  of  Italians  and  other  aliens  were  naturalised  in  this 
country  towards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  but  the  next 
great  immigration  occurred  during  the  Reformation  period. 
In  the  time  of  Edward  VI  some  foreign  Protestants  were 
established  at  Glastonbury,  and  though  England  ceased  to 
be  a  refuge  for  them  in  the  succeeding  reign,  large  numbers 
came  over  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  They  were  settled 
chiefly  in  Colchester,  Norwich,  and  in  Kent.  As  the  victims 
of  the  Duke  of  Alva  they  were  warmly  welcomed  by  the 
government.  In  the  towns,  where  they  were  allowed  to 
settle,  and  where  they  competed  effectively  with  less  skilled 
native  workmen,  they  were  regarded  with  somewhat  differ- 
ent feelings.  Their  influence  on  the  trade  of  these  places 
was  however  soon  found  to  be  suf^ciently  beneficial  to  allay 


I.]  Ivwiigraiits  to  Britain.  15 

the  apprehensions  with  which  the  new  comers  had  been 
originally  regarded. 

(^)  The  Revocation  of  the  Fklict  of  Nantes  in  1685 
caused  a  considerable  wave  of  emigration  from  France. 
Many  of  the  Southern  silk-workers  and  of  the  Northern  linen- 
weavers  were  Huguenots,  and  the  popular  indignation  at 
their  expulsion  prepared  a  warmer  welcome  for  them  in 
England  than  they  might  otherwise  have  received.  The 
silk-weavers  settled  chiefly  at  Spitalfields,  at  Coventry  and 
at  Macclesfield,  and  as  the  trade  they  practised  was  but 
little  known  in  England  they  do  not  seem  to  have  given 
rise  to  so  much  local  jealousy.  The  linen-weavers  were 
diffused  more  widely,  and  they  too  found  few  English  com- 
petitors; their  numbers  were  increased  by  a  similar  immi- 
gration in  1709,  when  many  families  from  the  Palatinate, 
some  of  them  in  the  direst  distress,  found  their  way  to  our 
shores.  Some  of  these  destitute  aliens  were  passed  on  to 
the  colonies,  while  others  were  planted  as  linen-weavers  in 
Ireland  and  in  Scotland,  the  two  parts  of  the  United  King- 
dom where  flax  was  most  readily  obtained. 

12.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  English  civilisation  has  gained 
much  from  the  extraneous  elements  which  Effects  on 
have  at  various  times  been  absorbed  in  it.  It  industrial  ufe. 
has  gained  in  disposition  and  character.  The  curiously 
mixed  race  has  been  able  to  take  advantage  of  new  oppor- 
tunities and  to  utilise  new  physical  conditions,  but  it  has 
also  gained  in  manual  skill.  Before  the  age  of  machinery, 
success  in  manufacturing  depended  on  the  dexterity,  often 
the  inherited  dexterity,  of  artisans.  However  much  Edward 
III  might  have  desired  to  improve  English  workmanship, 
he  could  not  have  done  it  except  by  importing  more  skilful 
workmen. 

With  each  of  these  successive  waves  of  immigration  some 


1 6     Outlities  of  EnglisJi  Indjistrial  History.    [Chap,  i.] 

trade  was  introduced,  or  was  at  all  events  so  much  deve- 
loped that  it  seemed  to  be  a  new  thing.  From  the  time  of 
Edward  III  we  have  the  manufacture  of  heavy  English 
broadcloth,  known  as  the  'old  drapery.'  In  Elizabeth's 
reign  we  find  the  introduction  of  the  'new  drapery'  —  serges 
and  other  light  goods,  or  mixed  goods  like  poplins  —  while, 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  silk  trade  and  the  linen  trade 
took  a  fresh  start.  All  these  were  industries  which  offered 
employment  to  large  numbers,  and  gave  rise  to  elaborate 
organisation;  there  were  also  many  minor  manufactures, 
such  as  the  making  of  paper  and  of  earthenware,  and  im- 
provements in  cutlery,  which  were  introduced  by  Flemish  or 
Huguenot  refugees.  Thus  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that 
these  immigrants  laid  the  foundations  of  England's  indus- 
trial greatness  in  more  than  one  department. 

There  is  also  some  reason  to  believe  that  they  exer- 
cised an  important  influence  on  our  industrial  institutions. 
It  is  in  the  Danish  towns  that  we  find  the  first  germs 
of  municipal  self-government.  It  is  shortly  after  the  Nor- 
man Conquest  that  we  find  the  first  traces  of  those  craft- 
gilds,  which  were,  in  various  shapes,  such  important  indus- 
trial authorities  for  many  centuries.  The  germs  of  banking 
and  insurance  appear  to  have  come  from  Italian  merchants 
settled  in  this  country.  If  we  turn  to  other  spheres  we 
see  that  conscious  and  deliberate  imitation  of  the  Dutch 
affected  English  finance  in  the  seventeenth  century;  while 
Dutch  engineers  and  drainers  had  a  large  hand  in  recover- 
ing the  Fens.  If  England  has  attained  to  industrial  and 
commercial  supremacy,  it  is,  in  some  measure,  because 
she  has  succeeded  in  attracting  to  herself  the  most  energetic 
and  enterprising,  as  well  as  the  most  highly  skilled  portions, 
of  the  population  of  neighbouring  lands. 


CHAPTER    II. 

PHYSICAL   CONDITIONS. 

13.     It  might  seem  easy  enough  to  describe  the  physi- 
cal features  of  any  portion  of  the  globe,   and 

°  The  relative 

especially  of  a  little   island   like  ours,  but  it  character  of 
is  not    quite    easy  to    point  out  their  precise   natural  re- 

riM  •  •        sources. 

economic  importance.  Ihe  precise  economic 
value  of  physical  advantages  depends  on  the  skill  and 
energy  which  characterises  the  inhabitants  of  any  particular 
country.  Natural  resources  are  relative  to  human  capa- 
bilities. There  may  be  much  mineral  wealth,  which  is 
worthless,  either  because  it  has  never  been  discovered,  or 
because  the  inhabitants  have  not  metallurgical  skill  to 
work  it.  In  the  same  way  the  advantages  offered  by  good 
harbours,  or  a  fertile  soil,  are  thrown  away  on  any  race  that 
does  not  take  advantage  of  them.  It  has  been  the  good 
fortune  of  Britain  that  her  various  conquerors  and  settlers, 
as  well  as  the  various  immigrants  who  have  reinforced  them 
at  different  times,  should  have  brought  together  different  and 
fresh  kinds  of  skill,  which  could  find  new  advantage  in  the 
physical  conditions  of  the  country.  Physical  conditions 
afford  opportunities  to  those  who  can  use  them.  Physical 
barriers  are  obstacles  to  men  who  have  not  the  skill  and 
c  17 


1 8     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

patience  to  overcome  them.  In  this  country  they  have 
served  rather  to  affect  the  lines  on  which  English  civilisa- 
tion has  developed  than  to  call  forth  its  original  vigour,  or 
to  give  it  additional  impetus. 

14.     Long  before  the  time  of  the  English  settlement, 
Britain  was  visited  by    Phoenician    or    Car- 

Mineral  ...  ^  ,  1  o    -n 

wealth,  Tin,  thaginian  traders,  who  came  to  the  Scilly 
Lead,  Coal  and  igles  and  Comwall  to  procure  tin.  Of  all 
the  mineral  products  of  England  this  seems 
to  have  been  the  one  which  was  first  worked  for  purposes  of 
trade,  and  all  through  the  Middle  Ages  tin,  together  with 
lead,  was  one  of  the  chief  articles  of  the  export  trade.  The 
lead  of  Derbyshire  was  undoubtedly  worked  by  the  Romans. 
They  also  carried  on  iron-mining  and  smelting  in  the  Forest 
of  Dean,  and  the  mineral  wealth,  thus  discovered  and  util- 
ised before  the  English  invasion,  continued  to  be  utilised 
throughout  the  history  of  the  conquering  race. 

More  important  for  English  trade  than  any  metals,  have 
been  the  large  beds  of  coal  found  in  many  parts  of  the 
country.  The  Romans  used  this  fuel  Ln  the  camps  on  the 
line  of  Hadrian's  wall,  and  the  Northumberland  and  Durham 
seams  have  been  worked  time  out  of  mind.  The  coal  was 
so  near  the  coast  that  it  could  be  readily  shipped,  and  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  it  came  to  be  the 
source  upon  which  London  relied  for  a  supply  of  fuel.  In 
the  eighteenth  century  the  invention  of  the  blast  furnace 
rendered  it  possible  to  use  coal  for  smelting  iron,  and  this 
led  to  an  enormous  expansion  of  the  coal  and  iron  trades. 
Steam  power  was  first  utilised  for  industrial  and  commercial 
purposes  about  the  same  time,  and  the  possession  of  an 
enormous  coal  supply  gave  England  an  opportunity  of  taking 
the  lead  in  the  application  of  machinery  to  manufacture  and 
to  shipping. 


11.]  Pliysical  Conditiojis.  19 

15.  While  these  mineral  products  have  been  of  import- 
ance, English  prosperity  has  been  largely  due  suitability 
to  the  products  of  the  soil.  Britain  was  a  for  tillage  and 
fertile  province,  which  served  as  one  of  the  °''^=*''y- 
granaries  of  the  Roman  Empire.  There  have  been  times 
when  the  art  of  agriculture  has  progressed  but  slowly,  and 
when  there  has  been  some  temporary  exhaustion  of  the  soil. 
On  the  whole,  however,  the  skill  of  the  farmer  has  advanced 
along  with  the  new  demands  made  on  it  by  succeeding  ages; 
and  the  produce  per  acre  of  land  under  crop  is  probably 
larger  now  than  it  has  ever  been  in  bygone  times.  Here 
and  there  land  has  gone  out  of  cultivation,  but  consider- 
able additions  have  been  made  to  the  cultivable  area  by 
embanking  the  sea  and  draining  the  fens,  while  the  nine- 
teenth century  system  of  thorough  drainage  has  greatly 
increased  the  facilities  for  working  the  land  profitably. 

Much  of  the  land  that  is  now  cultivated  was  at  one  time 
occupied  by  woods  and  forests.  These  had  a  high  economic 
value  while  they  lasted.  They  provided  a  fuel  which  was 
easier  to  work  and  pleasanter  to  burn  than  coal  can  ever  be. 
In  many  places  wood  was  the  only  fuel  procurable,  until 
the  construction  of  canals  rendered  the  midland  coalfields 
generally  available.  The  forests  also  gave  a  wealth  of 
materials  for  building  the  old-fashioned  houses,  which  are 
so  fast  passing  away,  as  well  as  for  constructing  ships. 
Though  substitutes  of  various  kinds  have  been  found  for 
these  materials,  it  may  still  be  a  matter  of  regret  that  the 
forests  were  so  recklessly  used  up.  The  chief  blame  for 
this  extravagance  probably  rests  with  the  iron  manufacturers 
in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  The  exhaustion 
of  the  soil  is  an  evil  from  which  recovery  is  possible  within 
a  comparatively  brief  period,  but  the  waste  or  destruction  of 
natural  woods  and  forests  cannot  be  so  rapidly  replaced. 


20     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

1 6.  England  has  also  been  a  great  wool -growing  coun- 
Pasture-  try.  Tliis  was  the  case,  to  some  extent,  in  the 
farming  and    period   before   the    Norman  Conquest,   but  it 

^'  was  not  until  the  twelfth  century  that  English 

sheep-farming  became  important.  This  development  oc- 
curred chiefly  in  the  North  of  England,  where  land,  un- 
occupied since  the  devastations  of  the  Conqueror's  days 
(1069),  could  be  easily  and  profitably  used  for  the  breeding 
of  large  flocks.  The  Cistercians,  for  whom  many  houses  were 
founded  in  the  twelfth  century,  devoted  themselves  more 
especially  to  this  avocation,  and  merchants  from  Lucca  and 
other  Italian  towns,  as  well  as  from  the  Low  Countries,  soon 
afterwards  engaged  in  trafficking  for  their  wool.  Pasture- 
farming  continued  to  increase,  and  in  the  sixteenth  century 
such  a  high  price  could  be  obtained  for  wool,  that  it  led  to 
a  great  development  of  sheep-farming  at  the  expense  of 
tillage.  With  the  development  of  the  arts  of  manufacture, 
a  time  came  when  but  little  wool  was  exported  in  its  raw 
state.  English  breeds  of  sheep  were  highly  prized  from  early 
times,  and  the  quality  of  their  wool  was  considered  to  give 
England  a  practical  monopoly  in  certain  branches  of  the 
clothing  trades.  The  importance  of  the  wool  was  so  great 
that  it  has  overshadowed  and  obscured  the  great  advantages 
which  England  derived  from  her  pastures  by  the  breeding 
and  rearing  of  cattle.  They  were  a  considerable  source  of 
food,  and  served  for  the  victualling  of  ships;  but,  besides 
this,  the  leather  trades  have  been  an  important  element 
in  English  prosperity  from  medieval  times.  Hides,  wool, 
woolfells  and  lead  were  staple  commodities  in  the  time  of 
Edward  III,  but  cattle  farming  contributed  to  our  wealth 
before  that  period,  for  butter  and  cheese  appear  to  have 
been  ordinary  exports  soon  after  the  Norman  Conquest. 

17.  Even  more  important,  in  some  aspects,  than  the 


II.]  PJiysical  Conditions.  21 

products  of  the  land,  has  been  the  harvest  of  the  sea.     Fish 
abounds   on   all    the    English    coasts,    but   the   ^.  .     . 

°  '  Fisheries 

herring  fishery  off  the  Norfolk  coast  has  been  and  seaman- 
of  special  value.  The  take  of  the  herring  ^^'^' 
fleet  was  in  early  times  disposed  of  on  the  beach  at  Yar- 
mouth, where  the  town  grew  up  as  an  adjunct  to  the  fishery. 
In  Tador  times,  when  serious  efforts  were  made  to  develop 
English  shipping,  special  attention  was  devoted  to  the 
fishing  trades  as  a  school  for  seamanship.  The  aptitude 
thus  fostered  was,  doubtless,  of  service  in  distant  expedi- 
tions, and  may  help  to  account  for  the  acknowledged  supe- 
riority, which  England  obtained,  from  the  first,  among  the 
fishing  fleets  off  Newfoundland. 

1 8.     While  England  has  these  various  advantages  for 
industries  of  different  kinds,   she  is  also  well   ^    ^ 

Roads, 

provided  with  natural  facilities  for  commerce,  rivers,  and 
Throughout  the  Southern,  Eastern,  and  Mid-  canals. 
land  Counties,  where  the  wealth  of  the  country  was  concen- 
trated in  earlier  times,  there  are  no  great  mountain  ranges 
to  offer  serious  obstacles  to  intercommunication.  Engineer- 
ing difiticulties  in  the  making  of  roads  have,  therefore,  not 
been  formidable,  and  the  main  lines  of  communication  were 
well  served  by  the  great  Roman  roads,  which  formed  the 
most  important  part  of  the  English  inheritance  from  Roman 
Britain.  The  maintenance  of  roads  and  bridges  was  one  of 
the  strictest  obligations,  which  fell  upon  all  landowners 
in  feudal  times,  and  from  this  not  even  the  most  favoured 
tenants  were  exempted.  But  much  was  also  done  by  the 
monastic  houses,  and  by  private  individuals  as  acts  of  piety. 
In  the  fifteenth  century  when  there  was  much  local  disorgan- 
isation, the  roads  fell  into  a  worse  condition  than  had  been 
the  case  in  earlier  days.  So  far  as  we  can  judge  there 
was  little  improvement,  despite  some  occasional  efforts,  till 


22      Outlines  of  EnglisJi  hidristrial  History.      [Chap. 

the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  matter  was  seriously  taken 
in  hand.  A  general  Highway  Act  was  passed  (1741)  and 
so  successfully  enforced  that  the  first  twenty  years  of  George 
Ill's  reign  showed  a  remarkable  change  in  the  possibilities 
for  intercommunication,  not  only  in  good  weather,  but  in 
bad.  The  progress  then  made  has  been  maintained,  while 
the  invention  of  Macadam  (1816)  and  the  skill  of  Telford 
and  other  English  engineers  brought  the  roads,  in  coaching 
days,  to  a  very  high  standard  of  excellence. 

The  physical  conditions  which  rendered  road-making 
comparatively  easy  have  given  a  character  to  English  rivers. 
They  are  not  rapid  torrents,  but  streams  working  their  way 
along  level  plains  or  in  broad  valleys  towards  the  sea. 
Many  of  them  are  tidal  to  a  considerable  distance  inland, 
thus  affording  sufificient  depth  of  water  for  sea-going  ships, 
and  providing  a  current  which  diminishes  the  labour  of 
working  up  the  stream.  Water  traffic  gives  the  easiest  facili- 
ties for  the  carrying  of  heavy  goods,  and  more  than  one  of 
the  great  fairs  of  England,  like  those  of  Stourbridge  and 
St.  Ives,  were  held  near  a  convenient  water-way. 

Communication  with  Holland  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury caused  Englishmen  to  turn  their  attention,  especially 
in  the  period  succeeding  the  Restoration,  to  the  improve- 
ment of  their  water-ways;  but  not  until  a  hundred  years 
later  was  much  done  to  improve  the  rivers  or  to  use  them 
as  feeders  for  canals.  The  success  of  the  Manchester  and 
Worsley  canal  was,  however,  a  great  encouragement  to  this 
kind  of  enterprise.  The  chief  towns  of  England  were 
brought  into  connexion  with  one  another  by  canals,  and 
communication  by  water  was  established  between  the  prin- 
cipal river-basins.  The  new  facilities  for  traffic  gave  oppor- 
tunity for  the  profitable  working  of  coal  in  many  districts, 
from  which  it  could  not  previously  have  been  conveyed  to 


II.]  Physical  Conditions.  23 

market;  and  the  development  of  the  South  Yorkshire  and 
Derbyshire  fields  followed  as  the  result  of  these  improved 
methods  of  transit. 

19.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  water 
came  to  be  of  new  importance,  not  only  in  water 
connexion  with  internal  commerce,  but  for  power, 
manufacturing  as  well.  Water  power  had  been  used  from 
time  immemorial  for  corn-mills,  and  it  was  also  employed 
in  the  fuUing  and  dressing  of  cloth.  But  during  the  last 
century,  with  the  progress  of  invention,  it  came  to  be  ren- 
dered available  for  various  manufactures,  so  that  there  was 
a  migration  of  industrial  enterprise  to  those  districts  where 
abundant  water  power  was  obtainable.  Both  the  hardware 
and  the  textile  trades  were  susceptible  to  this  attraction.  ¥ox 
iron  smelting,  water  power  was  needed  to  produce  a  sufficient 
blast  for  the  furnaces.  It  was  also  found  that  the  power  for 
driving  the  machinery  employed  in  the  processes  of  prepar- 
ing the  wool  and  also  in  finishing  and  dressing  the  cloth, 
gave  a  fresh  advantage  to  the  clothing  trades  of  Gloucester- 
shire and  Yorkshire;  business  migrated  to  these  districts, 
and  the  old-established  industries  of  the  Eastern  Counties 
were  completely  ruined.  When  power  spinning  and  power 
weaving  came  to  supersede  hand-labour,  water  was  the  agent 
which  was  first  employed  to  drive  the  new  machines.  Steam 
eventually  superseded  water  power;  for  it  could  be  easily 
increased  at  will,  and  the  constancy  of  the  supply  could 
be  reckoned  on  with  certainty.  But,  though  this  was  the 
case  in  later  times,  the  physical  distribution  of  water  power 
did  not  a  little,  in  the  first  instance,  to  determine  the  locali- 
sation of  the  principal  English  industries. 

20.  If  the  course  of   English  history  has   insular  cha- 
been  affected  by  the  nature  of  her  soil  and  pro-   racter  and 

.  ........        ^        .  .  .      royal  power. 

ducts,  and  by  the  facilities  for  internal  communi- 


24     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

cation,  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  her  insular  position 
has  been  of  great,  though  perhaps  of  indirect,  economic 
importance.  The  sea  has,  on  the  whole,  served  as  a  defence 
against  external  invasion,  and  no  part  of  England  has  been 
the  scene  of  frequent  conflicts  such  as  were  but  too  common 
in  France  and  Italy  for  centuries.  Security  from  attack  is 
one  of  the  first  essentials  for  industrial  progress;  the  greatest 
commercial  centres  of  the  old  world,  Tyre,  Rhodes,  and 
Venice,  relied  on  their  maritime  position  for  protection.  It 
has  been  the  good  fortune  of  England  to  have  an  unexampled 
history  of  industrial  and  commercial  development  carried 
on,  for  several  centuries,  with  entire  immunity  from  suc- 
cessful invasion  by,  or  subjection  to,  foreign  powers. 

Political  security,  the  result  of  her  insular  position,  has 
reacted  favourably  upon  her  industrial  life;  and  a  similar 
indirect  influence  has  been  exerted  by  some  other  features  to 
which  allusion  has  already  been  made.  The  remains  of  the 
Roman  roads  and  the  navigable  rivers  of  England  offered, 
from  very  early  times,  comparatively  easy  facilities  for  in- 
ternal communication  and  afforded  the  material  conditions 
which  favoured  the  eventual  growth  of  a  strong  internal 
government.  It  is  at  all  events  noticeable  that  in  Norman 
times  the  royal  power  made  itself  felt  in  maintaining  the 
king's  peace,  to  the  advantage  of  agriculturists  and  of  traders 
alike,  while  private  war  was  still  rampant  across  the  Channel. 
The  town  life  of  England  grew  up  in  subordination  to,  and 
under  the  patronage  of,  the  central  power;  while  the  cities 
of  Germany  and  Italy  were  almost  independent  powers,  and 
those  of  France  were  engaged  in  frequent  quarrels  with 
their  wealthy  neighbours.  There  was  a  gradual  and  har- 
monious development  of  constitutional  and  municipal  life 
in  this  country,  which  could  not  but  be  favourable  to  wise 
fiscal  administration  and  commercial  regulation. 


II.]  Physical  Conditions.  25 

2 1 .  Geographical  situation  has  also  been  highly  favour- 
able to  English  commerce,  and   the  coasts  of  ^    .,.,.     , 

o  '  Facilities  for 

England  afford  a  number  of  excellent  harbours,  maritime 
From  a  very  early  period,  London  has  not  only  "™'"^''«=e- 
had  a  part  in  the  export  and  import  trade  of  this  country, 
but  has  served  as  an  important  commercial  depot.  The 
great  routes  of  trade  in  the  early  Middle  Ages  formed  a 
sort  of  parallelogram,  of  which  Constantinople,  Marseilles, 
Wisby  and  London  may  be  regarded  as  the  corners.  When 
the  discovery  of  the  New  World  revolutionised  the  com- 
merce of  the  Old,  England  was  in  comparatively  close 
proximity  to  the  new  region  where  her  great  Dominion  still 
stretches,  even  though  the  most  flourishing  of  her  colonies 
have  thrown  off  her  sway.  It  was  only  after  contending 
with  many  rivals  that  Englishmen  forced  their  way  to  the 
East,  and  founded  and  maintained  a  commercial  empire 
there.  Commerce  with  the  New  World,  however,  seemed 
to  lie  ready  to  their  hands,  and  they  not  only  monopolised 
the  trade  with  their  own  colonies  (1651),  but  also  undertook 
a  large  part  of  the  carrying  trade  for  Spain  (17 13). 

22.  The  most  cursory  review  of  the  physical  advantages 
which  England  has  enjoyed  cannot  but  raise   Physical 

a  question  as  to  the   stability  of  her  present   bases  of  our 
prosperity.     Commerce  depends  in  many  ways   P''°^P^"*y- 
on  agriculture  or  on  manufacture.     Unless  we  have  wealth 
to  sell,  we  cannot  buy  wealth  from  others.     In  early  times 
England  exported  corn  to  supply  some  other  parts  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  even  as  late  as  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  she  produced  corn  in  sufficient  quantities 
to  be  able  to  export  a  surplus.     With  the  vast  growth  of  our 
population,  we  no  longer  have  corn  to  sell  when  we  enter 
the  market  of  the  world:  we  need  to  buy  it  from  abroad. 
The  same  has  been  the  case  with  wool.     In  the  thir- 


26     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

teenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  wool  was  our  chief  article 
of  export  and  the  mainstay  of  English  commerce.  When 
the  manufacture,  in  all  its  various  branches,  was  successfully 
planted  here,  our  clothing  trade  held  a  specially  strong 
position.  Abundance  of  material  was  supplied  at  home, 
and  there  were  many  markets  abroad  where  our  cloth  was  in 
eager  demand.  But,  since  the  wool  famine  at  the  close  of 
the  last  century,  English  manufacturers  have  been  forced  to 
look  elsewhere  for  materials  to  work.  The  development  of 
sheep-farming  in  Australia  has  destroyed  the  pre-eminence 
of  England  as  a  wool-producing  country,  and  has  struck  a 
blow  at  her  practical  monopoly  in  the  manufacture  of  cloth. 

It  is  still  more  obvious  that  her  mineral  wealth  cannot 
afford  a  permanent  basis  for  her  commerce.  The  fuel  sup- 
plied by  her  woods  was  often  recklessly  wasted,  and  there  is 
little  sign  of  any  practical  attention  being  paid  to  the  ap- 
proaching exhaustion  of  our  coal.  The  immense  accession 
of  wealth  which  came  from  these  mineral  resources  enabled 
us  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  struggle  with  Napoleon,  but  our 
financiers  could  only  do  it  by  mortgaging  the  future  and 
adding  largely  to  the  national  debt.  It  is  not  easy  to  see 
how  that  burden  of  indebtedness  could  be  defrayed,  without 
intolerable  pressure,  if  the  coal  and  iron  trades  were  seriously 
crippled. 

The  industrial  foundations  on  which  English  commerce 
has  been  built  up  hardly  seem  sound  enough  to  inspire  great 
confidence  in  the  maintenance  of  our  position,  but  other 
commercial  realms  have  prospered  as  depots,  even  when 
their  industry  was  not  of  first-rate  importance.  Tyre  was  a 
commercial  depot;  so  too  was  Venice.  Their  failure  came 
not  through  a  blow  to  their  industry,  but  through  the  opening 
up  of  better  commercial  routes,  which  left  them  on  a  siding. 
England  still  holds  her  own  in  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world, 


II.]  Physical  Conditions.  2/ 

and  London  is  still  pre-eminent  as  a  commercial  centre. 
How  far  the  development  of  new  areas  or  the  opening  up 
of  new  routes  may  affect  her  position  we  cannot  guess;  it 
is,  at  least,  not  impossible  that  history  may  repeat  itself 
and  that,  with  new  political  combinations,  the  centre  of 
gravity  of  the  commerce  of  the  world  may  be  shifted  once 
more. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE   MANORS. 

23.     In  modern  social  life  we  find  that  every  citizen 
Parochial  ^^^^y   ^^^ily    recognise    a   number  of    distinct 

municipal  and  interests  ill  wliich  he  has  a  personal  part, 
national  Life,  ^[q  jg  anxious  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
power  and  prosperity  of  the  country  as  a  whole,  even  though 
he  may  not  be  able  to  specify  the  precise  way  in  which 
any  great  national  disaster  would  press  upon  him  personally. 
He  is  interested  in  the  good  government —  in  the  lighting, 
paving  and  sanitation, —  of  the  town  with  which  he  is  most 
closely  connected.  He  probably  has  a  friendly  feeling 
towards  one  or  more  country  districts,  and  is  glad  if  the 
crops  are  good,  and  the  people  comfortable.  We  have  here 
three  distinct  types  of  social  life,  in  each  one  of  which  most 
of  us  have  some  sort  of  interest.  But  whereas,  at  the 
present  day,  national  disaster  or  national  well-being  —  the 
ebb  or  flow  of  trade  —  is  generally  and  widely  felt,  while 
local  politics  and  parochial  interests  seem  to  be  compara- 
tively trivial,  it  has  not  always  been  so.  There  was  a  time 
when  a  vast  number  of  Englishmen  hardly  had  reason  to 
look  beyond  their  village  or  their  town,  and  only  came 
occasionally  into  conscious  contact  with  the  world  outside. 
The  prosperity  of  tlicir  own  village  or  their  own  town  was 

2S 


Chap,  hi.]  The  Manors.  29 

all  that  concerned  them  then;  whereas  all  of  us  now,  for 
the  very  bread  we  eat,  are  affected  by  the  state  of  trade 
between  England  and  other  lands.  National  Hie  has  deve- 
loped apace,  so  as  to  outgrow  and  overshadow  the  interests 
and  politics  of  the  village  or  the  town.  In  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, for  almost  all  the  purposes  of  life,  the  village  or  the 
manor  was  by  far  the  most  important  of  these  social  organ- 
isms, when  few  towns  existed  and  when  national  ties  were 
of  the  slightest.  As  in  course  of  time  /oivns  grew  up, 
they  became  the  important  centres  of  trade  and  of  industry; 
the  stream  of  progress,  instead  of  flowing  along  the  narrow 
channels  of  village  life,  can  be  most  readily  observed  in  the 
larger  life  of  the  towns.  They,  in  their  turn,  fell  into  the 
background,  as  national  xtg\\\^X\on  and  national  institutions 
became  more  powerful  to  watch  over  and  to  promote  com- 
mon national  interests. 

Each  of  these  different  forms  of  social  organisation  has 
been  required  to  serve  different  purposes.  Their  powers 
have  been  brought  into  play  {a)  to  secure  the  subsistence, 
(b)  to  provide  for  the  defence,  and  {c)  to  regulate  the  ac- 
tivities, of  the  persons  who  compose  them;  and  in  the  dis- 
charge of  each  of  these  functions,  they  have  had  to  deal  with 
questions  that  are  really  economic.  This  is  obvious  in 
regard  to  the  means  of  human  life,  whether  they  are  pro- 
cured by  agriculture,  by  industry  or  by  trade.  It  is  also 
clear  that  the  necessities  of  defence  involve  military  obliga- 
tions or  taxation,  and  that  the  military  system  must  be  taken 
account  of  in  its  fiscal  aspects.  Similarly,  legislative  and 
judicial  administration  control  the  conditions  under  which 
industry  is  carried  on,  and  lay  down  the  rules  by  which  it  is 
regulated.  All  these  sides  of  social  life  have  some  economic 
bearing, and  each  of  them  must  be  at  least  alluded  to  in  an  in- 
dustrial history  which  deals  with  these  various  groups  in  turn. 


30     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

24.  When  we  go  back  to  the  earliest  times,  from  which 
Manorial  we  have  full  and  clear  information  about  the 
organisation,  gocial  condition  of  this  country,  we  find  a 
state  of  affairs  when  there  were  few  great  towns  engaged 
in  industry  and  commerce,  while  by  far  the  larger  part 
of  the  population  were  directly  interested  in  rural  pursuits. 
Throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  England  there  were 
manors,  which  we  may  think  of  as  villages  inhabited  by 
men,  who  differed  considerably  in  status,  but  all  of  whom, 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  were  responsible  or  subject  to 
the  lord  of  that  manor.  Despite  the  infinite  variety  of 
local  usages,  which  prevailed  among  these  manors,  it  is 
yet  possible  to  describe  a  common  type  to  which  they 
approximately  conformed. 

{a)  So  far  as  the  means  of  subsistence  are  concerned. 
Subsist-  we   have   no   difficulty    in    understanding    the 

enceand         nature  of  the  policy  that  was  pursued.     This 

household  ^  ■'  ^ 

management,  is  clcarly  brought  out  in  the  books  on  estate 
management,  which  were  written  by  Walter  of  Henley 
and  Robert  Grosseteste  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Each 
group  had  an  independent  life  economically.  The  autho- 
rities in  each  manor  aimed,  so  far  as  possible,  at  rendering 
it  self-siifficitig,  although  they  did  not  disapprove  of  the 
disposal  of  surplus  commodities  to  outsiders.  To  supply 
all  the  wants  of  the  inhabitants  from  the  resources  of  the 
manor  was  a  sign  of  good  management,  though  it  was  of 
course  occasionally  necessary  to  buy  some  articles  at 
markets  or  fairs,  or  from  travelling  chapmen.  It  is  hardly 
possible  to  conceive  a  greater  contrast  than  there  is  with 
the  present  day,  when  rural  districts  sell  the  largest  part,  if 
not  the  whole,  of  their  produce  in  markets,  and  depend  for 
their  supply  of  the  comforts  and  some  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  on  their  power  of  purchasing  from  the  towns. 


III.]  TJie  Manors.  31 

We  can  best  see  how  completely  this  was  true  of  the 
poorer  classes,  when  we  notice  the  system  adopted,  even  in 
great  households,  by  men  who  could  most  easily  procure 
the  means  of  transport.  The  king  and  the  great  magnates 
who  were  the  owners  of  many  estates,  found  it  simpler  to 
transport  \hQ  personnel oi  their  establishments  from  place  to 
place  than  to  gather  the  produce  from  their  estates  at  any 
single  palace.  The  great  landowner  was  frequently  on  the 
move  from  one  manor  to  another;  and  the  practice  of 
making  but  a  brief  sojourn  on  each  estate  continued, 
long  after  the  commutation  of  food  rents  for  money 
payments  had  rendered  such  a  course  unnecessary.  This 
may,  to  some  extent,  account  for  the  curious  lack  of 
comfort  to  which  the  rich  men  of  Norman  and  Angevin 
times  submitted.  They  and  their  retinues  would  be  shel- 
tered in  a  large  hall,  with  one  private  chamber  —  the  solar  — 
at  the  end.  There  was  little  or  no  furniture,  as  the  rough 
tables  on  tressels  and  benches  brought  out  for  meals  were 
cleared  away,  when  the  company  settled  themselves  to  sleep 
on  the  straw,  with  which  the  unboarded  floor  was  littered. 
A  lack  of  knives  and  forks,  of  glass  and  china,  rendered 
inevitable  habits  of  eating  and  drinking  which  are  inconsis- 
tent with  our  notions  of  refinement;  while  the  debris  of  the 
banquet  was  discussed  by  the  dogs  on  the  floor,  and  was 
finally  removed  when  a  great  occasion  required  that  the 
hall  should  be  strewed  with  fresh  straw.  When  the  food 
which  could  be  conveniently  stored  at  one  centre  began  to 
give  out,  the  cavalcade  would  move  on  to  another  estate, 
each  of  which  was  separately  managed,  and  each  of  which 
could  afford  subsistence  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period  of 
residence. 

{b)  Though  these  manors  were  thus  independent  and 
self-sufficient  in  this  aspect,  we  may  yet  see  that  for  pur- 


32      Oittlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

poses  of  defence  they  were  closely  linked  together.  From 
^  ,  the    time    of    the    Norman  Conquest,    at  all 

Defence  i  ' 

and  fiscal  obii-  evcnts,  each  shared  in  the  obligation  to  con- 
gations.  tribute    to    the    royal    treasury   for   military 

purposes.  The  fiscal  obligation  of  each  manorial  lord 
to  the  Crown  was  a  very  real  tie  with  the  central  au- 
thority, and  bound  these  isolated  self-dependent  groups 
into  one  whole  for  defence  against  external  foes.  This 
picture  of  England  is  put  before  us  with  great  detail 
in  the  wonderful  record  known  as  Domesday  Book.  This 
book  embodies  the  results  of  a  survey  taken  by  William  the 
Conqueror  in  1086.  He  desired  to  know,  not  only  the  rent 
obtainable  from  the  Crown  estates,  but  also  the  amount  at 
which  each  separate  landowner  throughout  the  country  was 
assessed  for  the  payment  of  Danegeld.  This  tax,  originally 
levied  for  the  purpose  of  buying  off  the  Danes,  had  come  to 
be  employed  as  a  means  of  raising  money  for  military  pur- 
poses. In  the  earlier  Norman  reigns  it  was  levied  occasion- 
ally, and  not  as  a  regular  and  annual  tax.  The  sheriffs  — 
officials  who  acted  as  the  king's  representatives  in  the 
counties — ^were  charged  with  collecting  the  royal  rents 
and  the  royal  taxes.  They  made  their  payments  to  the 
Exchequer,  and  in  the  records  of  that  court,  which  exist 
from  the  times  of  Henry  H  onwards,  we  get  an  immense 
amount  of  information,  in  regard  to  all  parts  of  the  country, 
reflected  in  the  entries  of  payments,  or  of  remissions  of 
payments,  to  the  central  Exchequer. 

The  aspect  of  the  manor  which  is  thus  brought  under 
our  notice  is  fiscal.  The  lord  of  the  manor  was  responsi- 
ble for  the  payment  of  a  certain  sum  to  the  sheriff,  and  he 
may,  therefore,  be  looked  upon  as  the  officer  by  whom  the 
smaller  contributions  of  taxes  were  actually  collected.  On 
almost  every  manor  some  of  the  tenants  seem  to  have  been 


III.]  TJic  Alaiwrs.  33 

practically  independent  of  the  lord  in  various  ways,  and  free 
to  deal  with  their  own  land  as  they  liked,  while  yet  they  were 
not  directly  responsible  to  the  king  for  the  payment  of  taxes, 
since  they  paid  through  the  lord  of  the  manor.  By  far  the 
larger  number  of  the  inhabitants,  however,  were  bound  to  the 
lord  by  stricter  bonds.  The  lord's  chief  means  of  defraying 
the  Danegeld  came  from  the  produce  of  his  own  estate. 
This  consisted  partly  of  his  demesne  lands,  and  partly  of  the 
holdings,  which  were  granted  to  villeins  on  condition  that 
they  should  render  regular  and  specified  service  on  the 
lord's  demesne.  In  this  way  the  villeins  were  an  integral 
part  of  the  estate,  for  without  them  no  cultivation  was 
possible  and  fiscal  obligations  could  not  be  discharged. 
Their  relation  to  the  lord  can  hardly  be  expressed  with 
accuracy  in  modern  terms.  It  might  be  said  that  they  were 
the  lord's  tenants,  who  paid  their  rent  not  so  much  in  money 
or  kind  as  in  service.  Or  it  might  be  said  that  they  were 
the  lord's  labourers,  who  received  for  their  work  not  wages, 
but  a  ready  stocked  allotment,  which  they  could  work  in 
their  free  time.  But  the  precise  nature  of  their  obligations 
at  different  dates  must  be  more  fully  considered  below. 

(<:)  The  third  aspect  of  the  manor  as  a  judicial  or  ad- 
ministrative centre  need  not  be  dwelt  on  at  Manorial 
length,  though  much  of  the  business  that  jurisdiction, 
came  before  the  courts  had  an  industrial  bearing.  There 
are  many  records  of  manorial  courts  which  show  us  how 
much  and  how  varied  was  the  work  they  had  to  do. 
They  were  much  concerned  about  the  weight  of  bread 
and  the  quality  of  ale.  The  manorial  court  was  also 
the  place  where  much  business  connected  with  the  estate 
took  place.  There  the  tenant  took  up  his  holding,  and 
there  the  villein  formally  entered  on  his  obligations  as  a 
tenant.     There    too    formal    complaint  was    made    if    any 


34      Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

villein  deserted  the  village,  and  thus  left  the  estate  short- 
handed.  And  since  the  majority  of  the  labourers  were 
practically  astrictcd  or  bound  to  some  particular  estate,  there 
was  no  such  opportunity  of  hiring  labour  or  of  seeking 
employment  as  we  are  familiar  with  to-day.  Hence,  in 
matters  of  internal  regulation,  as  in  regard  to  internal 
economy,  the  manors  were  singularly  independent.  The 
mutual  obligations  of  the  landholder  and  of  the  peasantry 
were  settled,  less  by  a  general  law  which  held  good  for  the 
realm,  than  by  the  custom  of  each  particular  manor.  Many 
small  cases,  connected  with  buying  and  selling  or  with 
ordinary  police  administration,  were  adjudicated  on  in  the 
manorial  court  according  to  local  customs,  since  there  was 
little  statute  law  on  such  topics  for  the  whole  realm. 

25.     We  can  trace  these  manorial  groups  as  far  back  as 
The  earl  ^^  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  for  Domes- 

history  of  the  day  Book  gives  us  very  clear  indications  of 
Manor.  ^^  existence  of  this  social  type  and  of  all  its 

different  functions.  In  the  forefront  of  each  entry  we  get  a 
statement  of  the  rate  at  which  each  place  was  assessed  for  the 
Danegeld;  while  at  the  close  of  each  entry,  in  most  counties, 
we  have  estimates  of  the  value  of  each  estate,  and  these  help 
us  to  see  where  taxation  pressed  most  heavily.  We  also  get 
details  of  the  condition  of  each  estate  for  subsistence  —  of 
the  stock  with  which  it  was  worked,  of  the  villeins  on  whose 
labour  the  lord  could  depend,  of  its  resources  in  the  way  of 
meadow  and  pasturage,  and  of  any  special  sources  of  wealth, 
such  as  a  market,  a  fishery,  or  a  mill.  Besides  these  details, 
there  are  some  indications  of  the  judicial  rights,  criminal  or 
civil,  which  the  lord  of  the  manor  could  exercise.  The 
whole  is  put  clearly  before  us,  as  it  existed  eight  hundred 
years  ago;  but  when  we  try  to  look  behind  the  Domesday 
record,  and  to  see  how  this  complex  rural  institution  grew 


III.]  The  ]\lanors.  35 

up,  we  find  ourselves  brought  face  to  face,  not  so  much 
with  positive  evidence,  as  with  various  conflicting  theories, 
which  would  trace  the  development  of  the  manorial  organi- 
sation to  royal  influence,  or  derive  it  from  changes  in  vol- 
untary associations. 

Each  of  these  social  factors  may  have  contributed  some 
elements  to  the  growth  of  the  whole.  In  the  fiscal  and 
judicial  functions  of  the  manorial  lord,  the  influence  of  royal 
authority  is  tolerably  clear.  There  is  also  much  to  be  said 
for  tracing  the  organisation  of  manorial  households  to  a  simi- 
lar source,  and  for  supposing  that  other  households  were 
regulated  and  organised  on  the  model  of  the  royal  establish- 
ments, as  if  the  manor  were  organised  from  above. 

But  in  Domesday  Book  and  in  later  sources  there  are 
various  traces  of  communal  life,  and  of  communal  rights 
against  the  lord,  which  seem  to  show  that  the  first  English 
settlers  were  men  who  voluntarily  associated  themselves  to- 
gether for  combined  tillage,  and  for  sharing  common  re- 
sponsibilities. This  associated  and  collective  organisation 
of  labour  is  certainly  found  among  the  serfs  in  medieval 
manors,  and  though  some  writers  seem  to  think  that  it  was 
imposed  by  masters  from  above,  it  seems  more  likely  that  it 
arose,  at  all  events  in  some  cases,  from  voluntary  association. 

The  whole  question  of  the  origin  and  early  history  of  the 
manors  is  still  in  dispute  among  scholars,  but  in  the  mean 
time  it  may  suffice  to  put  forward  two  negative  conclusions. 

i.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  every  centre  of 
rural  employment  grew  up  in  the  same  way;  some  may  have 
originated  in  a  body  of  serfs  and  some  in  a  voluntary  asso- 
ciation. There  is  no  reason  why  the  origin  of  one  should 
not  have  differed  from  the  origin  of  another.  Instead  of 
disputing  whether  they  were  all  free  or  all  servile,  we  might 
do  well  to  recognise  the  third  alternative  that  they  had,  as 


36     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

agricultural  communities,  no  special  political  character  at 
all;  but,  as  soon  as  any  rural  group  came  to  have  a  political 
character  and  to  be  used  by  the  Crown  for  judicial  and  fiscal 
purposes,  its  main  features  would  resemble  those  of  other 
social  groups  which  had  had  a  different  previous  history. 

ii.  There  is  a  temptation  to  regard  the  manors  or  centres 
of  rural  employment  as  survivals  from  Roman  times.  This 
suggestion  is  at  least  unproved;  in  the  face  of  the  evi- 
dence already  adduced  as  to  the  complete  destruction  of 
Roman  society  in  Britain  in  the  fifth  century,  it  does  not 
even  seem  very  probable.  There  are  of  course  many  striking 
similarities  between  the  vills,  of  which  the  remains  are 
found  in  so  many  parts  of  Britain,  and  the  manors  described 
in  Domesday  Book.  There  are  many  points  of  likeness 
between  a  great  estate  at  one  time  and  a  great  estate  at  the 
other,  but  there  are  also  great  differences;  while  some  of 
the  similarities  are  directly  connected  with  natural  condi- 
tions and  give  no  evidence  of  historical  derivation.  Resem- 
blances must  necessarily  be  found  in  the  cultivation  of 
similar  crops  on  similar  land,  with  similar  ploughs  and 
similar  oxen;  and  when  we  also  take  count  of  the  manner 
in  which  Continental  customs  and  Roman  terminology  were 
introduced,  subsequently  to  the  conversion  of  the  English, 
there  is  but  little  ground  for  supposing  that  Roman  vills 
survived  as  centres  of  rural  employment.  The  continued 
existence  of  the  Roman  vill  is  the  last  line  of  defence 
maintained  by  those  who  hold  that  our  English  civilisation 
is  directly  derived  from  that  which  existed  in  Roman 
Britain;  but  it  is  at  present  an  unproved  hypothesis. 

26.  Though  the  origin  and  early  history  of  the  manor 
Manors  in  are  SO  obscurc,  we  may  get  a  full  and  detailed 

the  thirteenth    description  of  its  Working  as  a  centre  of  rural 

century.     Re-  .  ,  ,   .  , 

cords.  employment    in    the    thirteenth  century.      At 


I 


III.]  TJic  Alanors.  37 

that  time,  a  careful  system  of  administration  and  the  render- 
ing of  written  accounts  had  become  common  on  all  well- 
managed  estates.  We  have  several  handbooks  on  luiglish 
estate  management,  dating  from  the  reign  of  Henry  III;  the 
most  celebrated  of  these  treatises  continued  to  be  the 
standard  book  on  the  subject  for  nearly  three  hundred 
years.  It  was  written  by  a  Dominican  friar  named  Walter 
of  Henley,  who  probably  had  some  practical  experience  in 
connexion  with  the  estates  of  the  great  monastery  of  Christ 
Church,  Canterbury.  We  are,  besides,  able  to  refer  to  three 
different  forms  of  records  which  were  kept  on  well-managed 
estates.  The  extent  ox  rental  gives  us  the  list  of  the  tenants 
with  a  statement  of  their  obligations,  whether  they  were 
discharged  in  kind,  in  services,  or  in  money.  It  was  a 
sort  of  survey  of  the  manor,  which  was  made  at  intervals, 
and  required  little  modification  between  times.  It  gave  a 
statement  of  the  resources  of  the  estate  and  the  legitimate 
expectations  of  its  owner.  The  accounts,  which  were  made 
up  each  year,  not  only  showed  the  produce  of  the  demesne 
farm  and  the  purposes  to  which  it  was  applied,  but  enume- 
rated the  live  stock  on  the  estate,  and  showed  how  far  the 
obligations  of  the  villeins  and  other  tenants,  as  recorded 
in  the  extent,  were  actually  discharged  in  any  particular 
year.  Again,  we  have  the  Court  Rolls,  or  records  of  the 
manor  on  its  judicial  side,  which  tell  us  of  the  changes  in 
the  personnel  oi  the  tenants,  and  occasionally  of  modifica- 
tions in  the  character  of  their  obligations.  From  these 
sources  it  is  possible  to  reproduce,  in  considerable  detail, 
a  picture  of  the  life  on  manorial  estates. 

27.     We  may  think  of  the  manor  in  the  early  years  of 
Edward  I  as  an  estate,   managed    by  a  bailiff   ^-^^  officials 
on  behalf  of    the  lord.      If   the   latter  were  a   and  the 
wealthy    man    with    many    estates,    he    would 


38     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

appoint  a  higher  ofificial  or  steward  io  represent  him,  and  to 
supervise  the  details  of  management  in  his  behalf.  The 
bailiff  was  the  responsible  official  on  each  estate,  who  had 
to  account  in  detail  for  the  stores  and  the  stock  each  year, 
and  who  also  had  to  see  that  the  villeins  did  the  work,  and 
made  the  payments,  required  from  the  holdings  they  en- 
joyed. There  was  also  a  foreman  {praepositus)  elected  by 
the  men;  it  was  his  business  to  represent  them  in  all  transac- 
tions with  the  lord,  while  a  hayward  superintended  the 
actual  work  and  saw  to  the  contributions  of  seed-corn. 

The  arable  land  of  the  lord  and  of  the  villeins  would 
often  be  intermixed  (cf .  below,  §  112),  but  the  portion  which 
was  directly  managed  by  the  bailiff  was  known  as  the  deniestie. 
The  lord  himself  possessed  a  good  many  oxen  for  work- 
ing this  land,  but  the  villeins  were  called  upon  to  con- 
tribute the  labour  of  their  stock,  as  well  as  their  personal 
services,  on  the  lord's  land.  The  demands  of  the  lord 
appear  in  earlier  times  to  have  been  somewhat  indefinite 
and  therefore  arbitrary,  but  by  the  time  of  Edward  I  they 
were,  generally  speaking,  perfectly  certain  and  precise.  The 
typical  villein's  holding  consisted  of  a  yard-land  or  virgate, 
which  would,  approximately,  be  thirty  acres  of  arable  land. 
When  the  villein  entered  upon  the  holding  at  Michaelmas 
he  would  find  part  of  his  land  ready  sown,  and  he  would 
have  a  couple  of  oxen  assigned  to  him  as  the  necessary 
stock  for  working  it.  When  the  holding  was  delivered  up 
to  the  lord,  as  for  example  at  the  villein's  death,  the  full 
stock  with  which  it  had  been  let  was  returned.  For  the 
maintenance  of  this  stock  the  villein  would  have  a  right  to 
the  produce  of  a  strip  of  meadow-land,  while  he  might  past- 
ure his  cattle,  and  perhaps  some  sheep  in  addition,  on  the 
common  waste  of  the  village.  In  course  of  time  additional 
portions  of  land  were  separated  from  the  waste,  to  be  used 


III.]  The  Manors.  39 

either  as  separate  crofts  or  for  additional  tillage ;  but  the  lord 
was  always  bound  to  see  that  there  was  no  such  reduction 
of  the  common  waste,  as  to  encroach  on  the  fodder  availa- 
ble for  the  cattle  of  the  village.  This  acknowledgment  of 
common  rights  was  enforced  by  one  of  the  earliest  Acts  found 
in  our  Statute  Book,  the  Statute  of  Merton  passed  in  1236. 

The  villein  who  held  a  yard-land  would  be  subject  to 
such  obligations  as  the  following.  He  would  have  to  render 
three  days'  work  a  week  on  the  lord's  land  from  Michaelmas 
till  St.  Peter  ad  Vincula  (Aug.  i),  but  he  was  allowed  holi- 
days at  Christmas,  Easter,  and  Whitsuntide.  He  had  to 
plough  with  his  own  team  four  acres  of  the  lord's  land.  He 
had  to  carry  manure,  to  weed  and  mow  the  lord's  meadow, 
as  well  as  to  cut  and  make  and  carry  the  hay.  From  St.  Peter 
ad  Vincula  to  Michaelmas  he  was  to  put  in  twenty-four 
days'  work,  so  that  he  might  be  kept  consecutively  busy  in 
the  lord's  harvest  operations.  It  was  clearly  defined  whether 
he  should  have  his  meat  and  drink  from  the  lord,  at  each  of 
these  times  of  obligatory  service,  or  not.  The  harvest  work 
must  have  been  regarded  as  specially  long  and  heavy,  since 
he  had  to  pay  a  penny  to  be  free  from  one  day's  labour  at 
that  time, whereas  a  halfpenny  was  regarded  as  the  equivalent 
of  the  day's  work  at  other  times  of  the  year.  He  had,  more- 
over, to  pay  \s.  8(/.  at  Easter  and  a  similar  sum  at  Michael- 
mas-Day, and  to  present  a  hen  at  Christmas  time.  These 
were  the  chief  obligations  of  a  tenant  in  villeinage  at  Borley 
in  Essex,  early  in  Edward  IH's  reign,  but  they  maybe  taken 
as  typical  of  the  obligations  of  villeins  generally,  although 
the  custom  of  each  manor  might  vary  in  some  details. 

On  these  estates  there  were  groups  of  men  who  were  of 
similar  status,  and  liable  to  similar  obligation,  and  who  thus 
formed  a  sort  of  community  on  the  estate.  They  appear  to 
have  been  collectively  responsible  for  the  work,  so  that  if 


40     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

one  failed,  the  others  had  to  make  up  for  his  deficiencies. 
The  praepositus  was  their  own  elected  oflficer,  who  ruled 
them  in  their  own  interest,  and  was  their  spokesman  with 
the  lord  or  his  steward.  Though  they  were,  in  some  ways, 
in  a  servile  position  and  astricted  to  the  land,  they  yet  had 
a  definite  social  status,  which  they  may  well  have  valued. 
Outsiders,  who  were  dependent  on  casual  employment,  and 
who  had  little,  if  any,  land  to  work,  were  in  a  certain  sense 
free,  as  the  villeins  were  not,  but  it  hardly  seems  that 
the  free  labourers  were  a  superior  class  till  after  the  agri- 
cultural revolution  which  followed  the  ravages  of  the  Black 
Death  in  1349. 

There  was  one  change  which  seems  to  have  been  going 
on  with  more  or  less  rapidity  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
The  landlord,  apparently,  was  at  liberty  to  choose  whether 
he  would  have  the  actual  services  rendered,  or  receive  the 
recognised  money  equivalent.  In  some  years  the  accounts 
of  an  estate  would  show  a  large  entry  for  opera  vendita,  i.e. 
for  payments  made  by  the  villeins  in  lieu  of  service.  On  the 
whole  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  landlords,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  to  take  money  instead  of  reluctant 
service,  and  to  get  the  necessary  work  done  by  hiring  free 
labourers,  or  others  when  they  wanted  them,  instead  of  find- 
ing work  for  the  men  at  stated  times.  In  some  cases  there 
was  a  formal  agreement  that  money  payments  should  be 
regularly  taken  in  lieu  of  actual  service.  In  an  agreement  of 
this  kind,  made  in  1343  at  Granborough  in  Buckinghamshire, 
the  tenants  became  collectively  responsible  for  deficiencies 
in  money  payments,  as  they  had  been,  in  all  probability, 
in  earlier  days  with  respect  to  service.  Even  where  there 
was  no  formal  agreement,  the  practice,  if  not  the  binding 
custom,  of  taking  rents  in  money  and  not  in  service,  came 
more  and  more  into  vogue  during  this  period. 


III.]  Tlie  Manors.  41 

28.  The  terrible  plague  known  as  the  Black  Death, 
which  swept  over  England  in  1349,  had  many  immediate 
results  on  English  society.  In  the  rural  Bjack^oeath^ 
districts  it  rendered  the  old  system  of  bailiff-  stock  and 
farming  impracticable,  and  thus  brought  about  ^^^^  leases, 
a  revolution  in  the  management  of  manorial  ing. 
estates.  The  immediate  effect  of  the  pestilence,  which 
killed  off,  roughly  speaking,  about  half  the  population,  was 
to  make  labour  very  scarce.  On  those  estates  where  the 
money-system  had  come  into  vogue,  labour  could  not  be 
hired  on  the  old  terms.  In  some  cases  there  was  reason  to 
fear  that  the  crops  would  be  utterly  lost,  because  the 
labourers  stood  out  for  unprecedented  wages;  and  a  statute 
was  passed,  which  was  several  times  re-enacted,  to  compel 
them  to  work  at  the  old  rates.  This  Statute  of  Labourers 
(i35i),however,couldnotbe  enforced,  and  consequently  the 
money-system  of  estate  management,  which  had  been  coming 
in  before  the  Black  Death,  proved  unremunerative.  The 
lord  had  the  necessary  stock  and  the  necessary  land,  but  he 
could  not  afford  to  pay  for  the  requisite  labour  at  the  new 
rates.  Under  these  circumstances  the  simplest  expedient 
was  to  give  up  the  attempt  to  farm  through  his  bailiff,  and  to 
break  up  his  demesne  farm  into  holdings  which  could  be  let, 
together  with  the  stock  necessary  to  work  them,  at  a  regular 
money-rent.  This  was  the  beginning  of  leasehold  farming, 
and,  ere  long,  it  came  to  assume  the  modern  type.  The 
stock  and  land  lease  appears  to  have  been  a  transitional  form, 
which  gradually  gave  way  to  an  arrangement  by  which  the 
tenant  supplied  the  stock,  while  the  landlord  was  responsible 
for  the  land  and  buildings.  These  leaseholders  were  pro- 
bably drawn,  not  from  the  villeins  who  already  had  holdings, 
but  from  the  class  of  free  labourers;  the  new  holdings  would 
not,  however,  differ  much  from  those  of  the  villeins.    As  the 


42      Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

leaseholder  could  not  hire  extra  labour,  his  holding  would 
be  such  as  could  be  worked  by  a  man  and  his  family.  It 
would  correspond  with  the  virgate,  though  as  the  lease- 
holder would  have  all  his  time  for  himself,  he  would  be  able 
to  till  a  somewhat  larger  area,  or  to  work  a  smaller  area 
more  thoroughly. 

In  the  case  of  other  estates,  where  this  expedient  was 
not  open,  the  landlord  found  it  profitable  to  take  to  pasture- 
farming.  Sometimes  he  might  be  able  to  do  this  without 
encroaching  on  the  arable  holdings  of  any  of  his  humbler 
neighbours,  or  interfering  with  their  pasture.  As  the  change 
went  on,  however,  there  were  many  landlords,  who  showed 
little  scruple  in  this  matter;  bitter  complaints  were  made 
of  their  conduct,  but  the  early  history  of  the  large  sheep- 
farms  is  little  known.  It  need  only  be  pointed  out  that 
pasture-farming  was  a  possible  expedient  which  landowners 
might  adopt,  when  it  proved  hopeless  to  carry  on  bailiff- 
farming  on  the  money-system,  either  because  so  many  vil- 
leins were  dead,  or  because  the  estate  had  been  depopulated. 

29.  The  problem  was  somewhat  different  on  those  es- 
The  Peasants'  tatcs  where  the  performance  of  actual  services 
Revolt.  ^^g  g^-jii  habitual,  or  was,  at  least,  a  recog- 

nised alternative.  On  these  lands  bailiff-farming  could  be 
continued.  It  would  be  distinctly  to  the  advantage  of  the 
lords  to  obtain  services,  and  not  money;  and  in  so  far  as  they 
could  procure  servile  labour,  the  land  could  be  worked  to 
great  advantage.  But,  apparently,  they  only  were  able  to  en- 
force their  claims  by  putting  great  pressure  on  the  villeins. 
Those  who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  buying  their  freedom 
from  a  good  deal  of  work,  would  resent  a  refusal  to  take 
their  money.  If,  as  a  consequence  of  the  plague,  very  few 
villeins  were  left  alive  on  an  estate,  it  might  be  difficult  to 
enforce  their  collective  and  communal  responsibility  with- 


III.]  TJie  Manors.  43 

out  serious  oppression.  The  comparative  f reedoni  and  pros- 
perity of  tlie  new  leaseholders  would  also  render  the  villeins 
dissatisfied  with  their  position,  and  thus  social  discontent, 
coupled  with  political  unrest,  brought  about  the  widespread 
and  organised  rising  of  the  peasants  in  138 1. 

30.     This  rising  was  very  widespread,  and  yet,  in  some 
ways,    was   very   local.     Norfolk,    Cambridge,    jherepres- 
St.  Alban's,  and  Kent  are  the  districts  about  sion  of  the 
which  we  hear  most.     The  precise  cause    of   ^.^^°  .  ^" 

^  the  subse- 

complaint  at  each  of  these  centres  of  dis-  quent  decay 
turbance  was  different.  The  insurrection  was,  °^  vuiemage. 
in  the  main,  directed  against  the  manorial  lords  and  their 
demands.  As  the  rising  took  a  local  colour  in  difl'erent 
districts,  so  too  it  seems  that  some  districts  were  entirely 
exempt  from  its  influence.  On  the  manor  of  Littleport, 
near  Ely,  the  accounts  of  the  year  show  no  trace  of  any 
irregularity,  and  the  services  of  the  villeins  appear  to  have 
been  rendered  according  to  the  old  routine.  Still  the 
villages  which  felt  no  effects  of  the  movement  must  surely 
have  been  exceptional;  for  the  rising  assumed  such  propor- 
tions, that  its  leaders  were  able  to  obtain  a  temporary 
success.  Charters  of  manumission  were  granted ;  but  these 
were  subsequently  set  aside,  on  the  ground,  apparently, 
that  they  had  been  extorted  by  force.  Before  long  the  old 
regime  reasserted  itself,  and  the  villeins  returned  to  nominal 
servitude,  until,  owing  to  the  spread  of  new  agricultural 
methods,  their  services  ceased  to  be  valuable. 

It  seems  very  probable,  however,  that  the  discontent  of 
the  villeins,  which  had  broken  out  so  violently,  put  increasing 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  working  the  land  on  the  old  system 
of  bailiff-farming  with  obligatory  labour.  The  break-up  of 
the  demesne  farms  into  leasehold  tenancies, or  the  conversion 
of  the  land  into  sheep-walks, became  increasingly  convenient. 


44     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

In  particular,  a  growing  demand  for  wool  rendered  sheep- 
farming  highly  profitable.  The  temptation  to  get  rid  of  the 
inhabitants  and  to  use  the  land  for  pasture  only,  was  strong. 
In  1459,  serious  complaints  were  made  at  Coventry  of  the 
manner  in  which  tenancies  had  been  destroyed,  teams 
broken  up,  and  parishes  laid  desolate  in  parts  of  Warwick- 
shire; while  the  current  sneer  of  foreigners  about  our 
reliance  on  sheep,  instead  of  on  ships,  shows  that  the  change 
was  not  confined  to  a  single  Midland  county.  The  tendency 
continued  to  operate  with  varying  force  till  the  close  of 
the  sixteenth  century;  depopulation  was  regarded  as  a 
serious  political  danger,  and  seems  to  have  been  carried  out 
in  some  cases,  at  least,  in  a  ruthless  fashion.  Whether  the 
dispossessing  of  the  inhabitants  was  effected  with  due  regard 
to  their  legal  rights,  and  how  far  they  were  illegally  evicted, 
are  questions  of  much  difiiculty,but  it  is  not  of  much  import- 
ance with  respect  to  the  economic  effects  of  the  change. 

As  this  rural  revolution  advanced,  the  manor  ceased 
to  be  an  important  centre  of  employment,  while  owing  to 
changes  in  the  levying  and  collection  of  taxation,  it 
was  no  longer  a  unit  for  fiscal  purposes.  In  many  cases 
its  judicial  functions  had  also  come  to  be  of  subor- 
dinate importance,  as  they  were  being  superseded  by 
other  agencies.  From  the  time  of  Richard  II  onwards 
we  find  the  increasing  importance  of  justices  of  the 
peace;  and  in  the  Tudor  period  the  overseers  of  the 
poor  came  to  exercise  some  of  the  duties  of  local  ad- 
ministration. In  these  ways  it  appears  that  before  the 
Reformation  the  manor  had  ceased  to  occupy  a  pro- 
minent position  either  as  a  centre  of  rural  employment 
or  of  local  administration.  The  formalities  of  this  juris- 
diction still  survive  in  many  places,  where  manorial  courts 
are  held  and  copyhold  tenures  exist;  but  they  seem  now 


III.]  TJie  Manors.  45 

to  be  mere  anachronisms,  not  effective  instruments  of  local 
government.  This  gradual  decay  of  the  manorial  organisa- 
tion on  all  its  sides  resulted  in  the  disappearance  of  serfdom. 
Such  a  change  is  not  easy  to  date,  but  there  is  evidence  to 
show  that  some  of  the  disabilities  of  the  state  of  villeinage 
remained,  and  were  felt  to  be  serious  grievances  as  late  as 
the  time  of  Elizabeth. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  TOWNS. 

31.     A  GREAT  many  of  the  towns  grew  up  under  mano- 
rial  patronage  so   that  their   earUer   history  is 

Manors  and  10  j 

towns.  Fis-  really  the  story  of  a  prosperous  manor.  In- 
cai  responsi-  ^^^^^  somc  of  our  most  important  towns  — 
such  as  Shefifield  —  grew  up  and  flourished 
under  this  system,  and  Manchester  had  very  little  of  the 
constitutional  character  of  a  town  until  1846.  A  town,  in 
this  constitutional  sense,  was  a  place  where  the  inhabitants 
were  collectively  responsible  for  the  king's  taxes,  and  came, 
in  consequence,  to  have  considerable  authority  for  local 
self-government,  in  the  assessment  of  the  quota  which  each 
householder  had  to  pay  for  the  royal  taxes.  A  group  which 
had  attained  this  fiscal  character  is  easily  distinguishable 
from  the  manors,  in  each  of  which  the  lord  was  personally 
responsible  for  taxation.  During  the  period  of  the  Cru- 
sades a  very  large  number  of  English  towns  had  so  far 
advanced  in  wealth  and  importance  that  they  were  able  to 
obtain  charters,  which  granted  them  this  direct  responsibility 
and  freed  them  from  the  interference  of  the  sheriff,  as  the 
king's  representative,  in  their  internal  affiiirs.  It  was  not 
until  they  had  attaineei  a  considerable  amount  of  prosperity 

46 


Chap,  iv.]  TJic    Tozvns.  47 

that  they  could  be  trusted  in  this  fashion,  and  the  history  of 
English  towns  before  the  time  of  the  Crusades,  although 
very  interesting,  is  very  obscure.  One  of  the  chief  difficulties 
about  it  is,  that  the  occasions  of  progress  and  the  manner  of 
progress  have  varied  so  much  in  different  towns.  The  story 
of  each  one  ought  to  be  traced  separately  and  individually, 
but  here,  it  is  only  possible  to  indicate  some  of  the  different 
influences  that  have  been  at  work,  and  to  illustrate  the 
manner  in  which  they  have  operated  in  different  places. 

32.     It  scarcely  admits  of  doubt  that  the  Angles  and 
Saxons,  when  they  invaded  the  deserted  Pro-    g^  .    ^ 
vince  of  Britain,  were  little   attracted  by  the   land.    Monas- 
remains  of  the  Roman  towns.     Some  of  them   ^"l,^" 

influence  in 

they  burned.  Others  they  allowed  to  fall  into  favour  of  town 
decay,  while  they  themselves  settled  in  rural  ''^^' 
districts  and  in  small  self-sufficing  groups,  which,  under  these 
circumstances,  offered  scant  opportunity  for  internal  trade, 
and  few  attractions  to  foreign  merchants.  A  few  pedlers  may 
have  gone  about  the  country,  and  occasional  fairs  may  have 
been  held,  but  there  was  little  regular  commerce  to  favour 
the  maintenance  or  lead  to  the  revival  of  town  hfe.  Of  the 
fifty-six  cities  of  Roman  Britain,  there  is  not  one  in  regard 
to  which  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  it  held  its  ground  as  an 
organised  centre  of  social  life  through  the  period  of  English 
conquest  and  English  settlement. 

The  manor  has  been  spoken  of  as  a  centre  of  rural 
employment.  Towns  must  be  regarded  as  centres  of  trade 
and  commerce,  and  any  social  gathering  or  settlement, 
affording  opportunities  for  trade,  supplied  a  nucleus,  which 
might  sooner  or  later  develop  into  a  town.  The  introduc- 
tion of  Christianity,  and  the  struggle  with  the  Danes,  each 
brought  about  social  conditions  which  favoured  their  growth. 
Opportunities  of  trade  were  offered  in  Christian  times  at 


48     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

places  of  pilgrimage,  especially  on  the  days  when  the  patron 
saint  was  commemorated,  while  the  great  Benedictine  monas- 
teries formed  large  establishments,  which  were  often  partially 
dependent  on  goods  brought  from  a  distance.  Norwich  and 
Canterbury,  Bury,  Reading,  and  Worcester  are  among  the 
towns  which  have  thus  come  into  being  under  the  shadow 
of  a  great  abbey. 

On  the  other  hand  the  forts,  built  by  the  Danes  or 
erected  by  Edward  the  Elder  and  his  sister,  the  Lady  of 
Mercia,  to  hold  the  country  against  the  Danes,  were  also 
centres  of  trade ;  and  the  growth  of  such  towns  as  Leicester 
and  Tamworth  may  perhaps  be  traced  to  these  causes. 
But  so  soon  as  active  contest  with  the  Danes  had  abated, 
and  they  were  adopted  as  a  constituent  element  on  English 
soil,  the  progress  of  the  towns  was  rapid.  The  Danes  were 
given  to  seamanship  and  trade  as  the  English  had  ceased  to 
be.  They  brought  England  into  intercourse  with  their  own 
settlements  on  the  Baltic,  in  Iceland,  and  in  Ireland.  They 
seem  to  have  devoted  themselves  to  industrial  pursuits 
and  to  have  furnished  some  common  articles  of  trade.  The 
importance  of  the  Danish  contribution  to  town  life  is  seen 
in  many  ways.  Besides  the  boroughs  which  had  Danish 
Lawmen  to  govern  them  —  Lincoln,  Stamford,  and  Cam- 
bridge —  there  were  others,  like  London  itself,  which  reflect 
the  Danish  influence  in  their  constitutions.  The  Husting 
Court  is  a  Danish  term.  We  can  trace  them  more  widely 
by  their  religious  associations.  Just  as  the  origin  of  different 
Greek  or  Phoenician  settlements  is  evidenced  by  the  worship 
in  their  temples,  so  the  Danish  element  in  English  towns 
may  sometimes  be  detected  from  the  dedication  of  a  church 
to  a  Northern  saint.  There  is  a  St.  Olaf's  not  only  at  York, 
but  also  at  Southwark  and  in  Exeter.  When  we  take  these 
various  and  apparently  trivial   indications  into  account,  we 


IV.]  The   Towns.  49 

can  realise  how  deeply  the  progress  of  English  towns  has 
been  affected  by  the  influence  of  these  later  settlers. 

2^2)-     While  these  influences  made  it  possible    for  town 
life   to   arise,  there   were   various  physical  con-    Domesday 
ditions  which   rendered  one  point   or   another   *°^"^-  R^rai 

character. 

especially  favourable  for  the  new  development,  conflicting 
The  English  rivers  offer  facilities  for  carriage  jurisdiction, 
far  into  the  country,  and  more  than  one  town  has  arisen  at 
the  point  where  the  tide  served  to  bring  the  small  seagoing 
vessels  of  early  days.  Perth  and  Stirling  in  Scotland, 
Ipswich,  Norwich,  and  Chester  may  all  be  regarded  as  illus- 
trations in  point.  In  other  cases  the  great  Roman  roads 
remained  to  offer  facilities  of  communication  ;  and  new  towns 
took  their  rise  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood,  or  on  the 
very  sites,  of  the  Roman  ruins.  Where  social  and  physical 
conditions  were  alike  favourable,  there  was,  doubtless,  con- 
siderable opportunity  for  regular  trade.  This  had  led  to 
an  increase  of  settled  population,  at  the  time  of  Domesday 
Book,  in  many  of  the  places,  which  were,  even  then,  called 
boroughs  or  towns,  though  they  had  but  few  of  the  charac- 
teristics which  we  associate  with  urban  life.  Even  in  mere 
external  appearances  they  must  have  been  very  different 
from  the  towns  we  know.  We  are  accustomed  to  streets  of 
shops,  in  which  stores  of  finished  goods  are  exposed  for  sale, 
but  of  shops  in  this  sense  there  were  probably  few,  if  any, 
outside  of  London.  Stocks  of  goods  were  only  exposed  for 
sale  at  the  annual  fairs,  which  were  arising  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  and  the  artisan  who  lived  in  a  town  would 
expect  his  customers  to  provide  the  materials  for  his  work. 
It  is  still  more  strange,  according  to  our  ideas,  to  find  that 
householders  in  towns  were  engaged  in  rural  occupations. 
Thus  the  sheriff  of  Cambridge,  at  the  time  of  the  Domesday 
Survey,   was  guilty  of   extortion  in  requiring    too    frequent 

E 


50     Oiitlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

use  of  the  townsmen's  teams ;  while  the  inventory  of  Col- 
chester in  1296  gives  us  a  picture  of  a  distinctly  rural 
community. 

A  still  more  curious  feature  of  town  life  is  revealed  by 
the  entries  in  Domesday  Book,  for  even  the  principal  towns 
show  little,  if  any,  trace  of  common  municipal  life.  We 
find,  instead,  abundant  evidence  of  conflicting  jurisdictions. 
In  some,  it  is  clear,  that  there  was  a  large  Norman  or 
Flemish  population  —  such  as  ihtfrancigence  of  Shrewsbury 
and  Norwich  —  who  did  not  always  pay  the  same  taxes 
as  other  townsmen  or  conform  to  the  same  customs.  In 
many  places,  two  or  more  houses  in  a  town  appear  to  have 
been  attached  to  and  taxed  with  a  neighbouring  estate. 
These  conflicting  responsibilities  and  jurisdictions  in  one 
thickly  inhabited  area  seem  to  us  very  strange ;  but  it  may 
be  well  to  remember  that  even  the  City  of  London  was  a 
curiously  composite  body,  in  which  each  ward  had  a  singular 
independence  as  late  as  the  time  of  Edward  I ;  while  it  was 
only  in  1856  that  the  separate  jurisdictions  of  the  boroughs 
of  Canongate,  Portsborow  and  Broughton  were  merged  in 
the  City  of  Edinburgh.  It  would  be  most  interesting,  if  it 
were  possible  here,  to  trace  in  detail  the  growth  of  that 
common  town-life,  which  gradually  found  expression  in 
common  municipal  institutions. 

34.  In  so  far  as  we  find  traces  of  its  growth,  first  in  one 
„,      ^         place   and   then   in   another,  it  is   marked   by 

The   Strug-     J^  '  -' 

gie  for  char-  the  obstacles  which  the  townsmen  had  to 
tered  liber-      encouutcr,  and    from  which   they  endeavoured 

ties.     Inter-  ^ 

municipal  to  procurc  their  freedom.  Where  the  town 
commerce.  ^^^^  ^  populous  Centre  on  the  lands  of  a  single 
manorial  lord,  the  inhabitants  had  a  common  interest  in 
purchasing  their  freedom  from  the  interference  of  his 
officers.     They  might  desire  to  be  free  from  the  obligation 


IV.]  TJic  Towns.  51 

to  contribute  for  the  ploughing  of  his  lands,  and  the  men  of 
Leicester  obtained  this  freedom  by  a  charter  from  Earl 
Robert  in  1 1 90.  Many  might  desire  to  be  free  from  such  a 
restriction  as  that  of  grinding  their  corn  at  the  lord's  mill ; 
the  men  of  St.  Alban's  had  not  obtained  freedom  to  use 
hand-mills  of  their  own  in  1381,  and  the  right  was  still  in 
dispute  at  Manchester  during  the  last  century.  There  were 
all  sorts  of  minor  matters  of  police  jurisdiction  and  of  sani- 
tary regulation,  about  which  the  townsmen  preferred  to  be 
free  to  legislate  for  themselves.  On  all  these  points  they 
won  their  freedom,  bit  by  bit,  as  various  rights  were  con- 
ceded to  them  in  different  charters  by  the  manorial 
lords. 

There  were  other  rights  which  they  desired  to  have,  and 
for  which  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  approach  the 
king  himself.  One  such  privilege  was  the  right  of  being 
collectively  responsible  for  the  payment  of  the  royal  taxes. 
This  freed  them  from  the  interference  of  the  sheriff,  and 
enabled  them  to  assess  the  quota  which  each  inhabitant 
should  pay,  as  a  house-rate,  towards  the  common  burdens. 
They  were  also  glad  to  exercise  powers  of  jurisdiction 
among  themselves  according  to  their  own  customs,  and 
thus  to  be  free  from  judicial  interference  from  without, 
in  the  ordinary  business  of  life.  And,  besides  this,  they 
were  desirous  of  being  allowed  to  associate  themselves  for 
certain  trade  matters,  and  to  have  their  own  gild  merchant. 
These  various  rights  were  highly  coveted  ;  and  they  were 
secured  sometimes  in  larger,  sometimes  in  smaller  degree 
by  royal  charters,  for  which  a  substantial  contribution  to  the 
royal  exchequer  had  generally  to  be  paid.  The  era  of  the 
Crusades,  when  the  king  and  the  great  lords  were  eagerly 
endeavouring  to  raise  money,  was  a  period  when  very  many 
charters  were   procured,  and  when  some  populous  places 


52     Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

attained  the  status  of  self-governing  towns  presided  over  by 
their  own  elected  officer,  the  Mayor. 

Similar  causes  were  at  work  over  a  great  part  of  Christen- 
dom in  the  twelfth  century,  and  gave  rise  in  all  lands  to 
a  new  and  vigorous  urban  life.  The  institutions  which  grew 
up  at  this  time  are  so  similar  that  instructive  contrasts  can 
often  be  drawn  in  regard  to  the  details  of  their  adminis- 
tration. This  resemblance  was  so  close  that  intercourse 
between  towns  for  business  purposes  was  frequent.  The 
mercantile  customs  and  the  methods  of  recovering  debt  in 
one  town  were  much  the  same  as  those  in  vogue  in  another. 
But  though  similar  in  type,  each  separate  borough  had  well- 
defined  privileges  of  its  own,  and  heavy  burdens  which  its 
own  inhabitants  were  called  upon  to  bear.  Each  had  its 
own  documentary  history,  consisting  of  a  series  of  charters, 
by  which  its  special  privileges  were  conceded  or  confirmed. 
Each  was  a  self-centred  independent  body,  though  it  might 
have  frequent  relations  with  other  similar  bodies.  And  as 
these  towns  were  trading  centres,  the  commerce  of  the  day 
took  something  of  the  character  of  the  social  groups  in 
which  it  was  carried  on,  and  may  be  fitly  described  as 
inunicipal  or  inter-municipal  trade. 

35.  The  towns,  like  the  manors,  were  called  upon  to 
Fiscal  con-  pay  for  the  defence  of  the  realm,  and  many 
tributions        ^f  them   obtained   the    dignity   of    this    fiscal 

and  internal  •,  ■,■ 

administra-  responsibility  about  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
tio"-  century.     The  inhabitants  were  collectively  re- 

sponsible for  the  ferni  of  the  town  ;  besides  incurring  a 
large  fine  to  procure  the  charter  which  secured  them  this 
right,  they  were  under  an  obligation  to  make  an  annual  pay- 
ment to  the  Exchequer.  The  various  burgesses  contributed 
a  house-rate,  and  they  obtained  immunity  for  their  travel- 
ling merchants  from  the  exactions  which  were  often  levied 


IV.]  The   Toivns.  53 

by  local  authorities  in  the  jilaces  they  visited.  They  were 
very  strict  in  the  exaction  of  their  own  rates,  and  very 
jealous  of  admitting  any  one  to  the  advantages  of  their 
town,  who  did  not  share,  as  an  inhabitant,  in  its  burdens. 
The  earliest  town  laws  show  the  greatest  jealousy  of  upland 
men,  or  of  any  inhabitant  who  under  the  guise  of  a  partner- 
ship shared  the  advantages  of  his  position  with,  and  coloured 
the  goods  of,  an  outsider.  This  jealousy  is  a  striking  and 
rather  unpleasant  feature  in  the  life  of  these  little  communi- 
ties, but  the  danger  against  which  they  endeavoured  to  guard 
themselves  was  not  imaginary.  In  the  time  of  Edward  I 
we  find  that  the  pressure  of  municipal  burdens  was  suffi- 
ciently heavy  to  cause  the  migration  of  some  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Northampton  to  more  fovoured  districts.  In  the 
fifteenth  century  it  was  found  necessary  to  grant  remission 
of  taxation  to  many  places,  and  it  is  generally  admitted  that 
the  pressure  of  their  taxes  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with  the 
distress  of  the  older  towns  in  the  Tudor  period,  when  new 
commercial  centres  were  rising  into  prominence.  The 
exclusiveness  then,  though  apparently  harsh,  was  exercised 
in  self-defence  ;  and  it  must  also  be  remembered  that  towns- 
men were  willing  to  welcome  strangers  as  tefisers,  if  they 
were  willing  to  take  a  definite  footing  in  the  town,  and  to 
contribute  to  its  expenses  in  a  fashion  that  should  corre- 
spond to  the  partial  privileges  to  which  such  non-residents 
were  admitted.  But  those  who  tried  surreptitiously  to  evade 
these  obligations  aroused  keen  animosity,  and  this  feeling 
was  extended  to  such  bodies  as  the  Hansards,  or  the  Jews, 
who  lived  in  a  town  under  royal  protection,  but  were  not  of 
it,  since  they  were  not  at  scot  and  lot  with  the  other  inhabi- 
tants. These  settlements  of  aliens,  entirely  exempt  from 
local  authority  and  responsible  to  the  king  directly,  are 
among  the  last  indications  of  conflicting  privileges  among  the 


54      Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

residents  within  the  City  of  London ;  comparatively  httle  is 
heard  of  difficulties  affecting  them  after  the  time  of  Edward  I. 

In  his  reign  the  internal  government  of  the  more  advanced 
boroughs  was  in  the  hands  of  elected  officials;  the  character  of 
their  business,  the  rules  they  enforced,  and  the  penalties  they 
imposed,  may  be  most  clearly  seen  from  the  printed  records 
of  such  towns  as  London,  Ipswich,  or  Nottingham.  But  there 
were  also  many  cases  where  this  internal  jurisdiction  had  not 
passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  original  manorial  authorities, 
and  where  the  desire  of  the  townsmen  for  a  fuller  measure  of 
internal  self-government  gave  rise  to  bitter  and  sanguinary 
struggles.  These  occurred  very  frequently  in  the  towns 
which  had  grown  up  under  the  patronage  of  some  great 
abbey.  There  is  an  interesting  agreement  which  closed  the 
era  of  frequent  riot  at  Reading  in  1254.  The  disturbances 
at  Bury  in  1327  seem  to  have  been  more  serious,  but  those 
at  Norwich  in  1272  were  worst  of  all,  and  resulted  in  the 
burning  of  the  Cathedral  and  the  siege  and  storm  of  the  city. 

36.  The  town,  like  other  social  groups,  had  not  only 
a  fiscal  and   administrative   side,    it  was   also 

Gilds  .  ' 

merchant  and  Concerned  with  the  maintenance  of  its  own 
weavers'  prosperity.    It  was  as  centres  of  commerce  that 

the  towns  grew,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  inhabitants  especially  prized  the  right,  which  we  find 
in  many  Norman  and  Plantagenet  charters,  of  obtaining 
freedom  to  associate  themselves  for  the  purpose  of  regu- 
lating their  commerce.  The  grant  of  a  hanse  or  gild 
merchant  gave  them  the  character  of  an  important  com- 
mercial unit,  which  could  enjoy  a  share  of  trade,  both 
local  and  distant.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  not  easy, 
despite  Dr.  Gross's  unwearied  investigatioi'rs,  to  determine 
the  exact  functions  of  these  bodies.  Though  the  gilds 
were  so  closely  connected  with  the  town  authorities,  that 


IV.]  TJic   Tozvjis.  55 

their  precise  spheres  are  difficult  to  discriminate,  they  do 
not  appear  to  have  had  a  judicial  character  in  English 
towns,  or  to  have  been  in  a  position  to  settle  disputes 
between  merchants.  They  were  certainly  eager  to  guard 
against  any  encroachment  on  their  privileges,  but  it  is  not 
quite  clear  what  these  valued  privileges  were.  It  appears 
that  they  exercised  a  general  regulation  over  the  manner  in 
which  trade  was  conducted.  The  conditions  of  buying  and 
selling,  and  to  some  extent  the  quality  of  goods,  as  well  as 
the  nature  of  weights  and  measures,  came  within  their  pur- 
view. They  were  doubtless  able  to  enforce  the  methods  of 
dealing,  which  they  believed  to  be  for  the  interest  of  the 
town,  upon  all  their  members,  and  they  were  also  able  to 
prevent  persons  who  were  not  members  from  carrying  on 
regular  dealing  there,  although  the  latter  might  probably 
visit  the  town  on  market-days  and  at  fairs.  But  it  seems 
probable  that  these  gilds  had  also  another  side,  and  that 
they  were  found  useful  for  the  purpose  of  collective  trading. 
When  foreign  ships  visited  a  town,  it  was  advantageous  for 
the  inhabitants  to  refrain  from  bidding  against  one  another, 
and  to  make  one  common  purchase,  which  they  could  after- 
wards divide  among  themselves.  The  right  of  cavel  or  of 
having  a  share  in  these  common  purchases  is  more  easily 
traced  in  the  laws  of  Scotch  than  of  English  towns.  But 
there  is  evidence  that  a  similar  right  existed  at  Chesterfield 
in  1294,  and  subsequent  cases  of  town  trading,  whether  they 
are  survivals  or  only  accidental  revivals  of  a  former  practice, 
throw  interesting  light  upon  the  conditions  which  would 
render  such  an  institution  desirable.  Town  purchases  of 
coal  were  frequent  in  Dublin  in  the  seventeenth  and  eigh- 
teenth centuries.  Many  towns  made  provision  for  a  food 
supply  by  means  of  granaries  in  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries,  and  the  town  mills  of  Edinburgh  were  an 


56      Outlines  of  English  hidiistrial  History.      [Chap. 

important  part  of  corporation  property  until  comparatively 
recent  times.  But  whatever  direct  pecuniary  advantages 
may  have  accrued  to  a  townsman  from  membership  of  the 
gild  —  and  the  gild  did  not  embrace  all  inhabitants,  while  it 
might  include  non-residents  as  members  —  it  certainly  con- 
ferred a  status,  which  made  him  a  person  of  credit.  There 
was  a  substantial  body  behind  him  to  which  appeal  could  be 
made  in  case  of  default,  and  the  increased  security  and 
smoothness  of  trading  transactions  would  go  far  to  account 
for  the  anxiety  of  many  towns  to  possess  their  own  gild. 

Besides  these  town  gilds,  we  hear  in  the  twelfth  century 
of  several  gilds  in  different  places,  composed  of  men  who 
followed  some  particular  trade,  especially  that  of  weaving. 
It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  they  should  occur  in  a  trade 
which  was  not  a  separate  business,  but  a  part  of  the  women's 
household  duties  during  the  Early  English  period;  weaving 
was,  however,  already  practised  with  considerable  success  in 
Flanders,  and  many  immigrants  from  that  country  settled  in 
England  within  a  century  of  the  Conquest.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  origin  of  the  gilds  we  find  that  the  relations 
of  their  members  with  other  townsmen  were  by  no  means 
friendly.  It  seems  more  probable  that  they  were  sepoirate 
associations  of  aliens,  authorised  and  protected  by  the  Crown, 
than  that  there  was  a  large  class  of  native  English  weavers  at 
this  time,  who  found  it  desirable  to  develop  such  institutions 
on  their  own  account.  The  story  of  the  weavers'  gild  in 
London,  of  its  long  independence  and  eventual  submission 
to  the  City  authorities  in  132 1,  appears  to  bear  out  this  view 
of  the  situation;  but  it  is  also  noticeable  in  regard  to  these 
early  industrial  gilds  that  they  occur  in  trades  where  authori- 
tative regulation  was  enforced.  Bakers'  gilds  are  as  early, 
though  not  so  widely  diffused,  as  weavers'  gilds.  The 
bakers'  gild  of  Coventry  has  an  unbroken  existence  from 


IV.]  TJic  Towns.  57 

the  sixth  year  of  King  John.  The  Assize  of  Bread  and  the 
Assize  of  Measures  are  among  the  oldest  English  regulations 
for  the  weight  and  size  of  goods:  and  it  maybe  questioned 
whether  the  origin  of  these  industrial  gilds  was  not  due  rather 
to  the  need  of  local  administrative  powers  than  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  voluntary  association.  At  any  rate,  if  they  were 
formed  by  association,  we  can  see  one  reason  why  they 
were  favoured  and  fostered  by  the  central  authority. 

37.     Such,    on   the   whole,    was  the   character   of    the 
towns  and  of    their  institutions   in  the  time    Affiliation 
of    Edward  I.     The  more  we  read   of    their   ^"'^  represen- 

,  .....  ,.  tation.     Na- 

intercourse,  the  more  striking  is  the  self-con-  tionai  control 
tained  character  of  each  borough,  and  its  ex-  °f  commerce. 
clusivenessagainst/(7;r/^;/<?rj'.  It  is,  in  itself,  strange  to  find 
this  word  used  habitually  for  men  who  were  foreign  to  the 
town,  whether  they  were  aliens,  or  Englishmen  from  other 
places.  The  legal  position  of  a  trader  from  Norwich  at 
Stourbridge  Fair,  near  Cambridge,  was  precisely  similar,  for 
business  purposes,  to  that  of  a  trader  from  Bruges  or  Rouen. 
A  common  Merchant  Law  was  recognised  in  all  these  places; 
and  this,  rather  than  the  law  of  the  realm,  governed  transac- 
tions. In  each  case  the  communitas  to  which  he  belonged 
was  looked  upon  as  responsible  for  the  good  faith  of  a 
merchant,  whether  he  hailed  from  an  English  or  from  a 
Continental  town,  so  that,  at  first  sight,  there  would  seem 
to  have  been  little  connexion  or  common  feeling  between 
English  towns  as  such. 

But"  there  were,  after  all,  close  ties  of  connexion  between 
the  various  towns.  The  customs  which  each  maintained 
were  not  an  independent  creation  of  its  own.  Each  of  the 
later  boroughs  obtained  privileges  in  its  charter  which  were 
not  enumerated  in  detail,  but  which  were  described  as  being 
precisely  similar  to  those  of  some  other  place.     In  this  way 


58      Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

we  can  affiliate  the  various  boroughs  to  one  another,  and 
trace  their  institutions  back  to  a  common  stock.  Thus 
Derby  derived  its  custom  from  Nottingham,  Nottingham 
from  Coventry,  Coventry  from  Lincohi,  and  Lincoln  from 
London.  Li  some  cases  the  daughter  town  might  deem  it 
wise  to  appeal  to  its  mother  for  advice,  as  to  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  custom.  In  some  of  the  Continental  cities  the 
filial  relation  appears  to  have  involved  a  direct  subordination 
which  was  not  in  vogue  in  England.  Still,  the  filial  relation- 
ship enables  us  to  trace  out  distinct  family  trees,  which  lead 
back  to  the  several  original  types  of  city  custom  which  are 
found  in  London,  Bristol,  York  and  Hereford.  The  towns 
on  the  Welsh  Marches  followed  the  custom  of  Hereford; 
those  of  Ireland  that  of  Bristol;  while  the  custom  of  London, 
as  adopted  at  Winchester,  was  more  widely  diffused.  It  was 
followed,  not  only  by  many  towns  in  the  South,  but  also  by 
Newcastle;  and  from  Newcastle  it  passed  to  be  the  common 
custom  of  the  boroughs  of  Scotland.  In  their  earlier  history 
and  before  the  Scottish  War  of  Independence,  the  analogy 
between  Scotch  and  English  boroughs  is  very  close;  but,  in 
their  later  life  and  institutions,  the  Northern  towns  were 
greatly  influenced  by  French  and  Flemish  usages,  and  fol- 
lowed a  line  of  development  different  from  that  of  munici- 
palities south  of  the  Tweed.  By  far  the  largest  number  of 
English  towns  followed  the  model  of  London,  which  was 
the  source  whence  a  common  body  of  municipal  regulations 
spread  to  two-thirds  of  the  commercial  centres  of  England. 
A  common  custom,  which  was  so  generally  enforced  by 
municipal  authorities,  had  an  influence  nearly  as  great  as 
that  exercised  by  Parliamentary  enactments  in  later  reigns. 
Indeed  it  may  be  said  that  a  great  deal  of  the  early  legisla- 
tion for  trade  did  not  take  the  form  of  devising  new  expedi- 
ents, but  rather  of  giving  wider  scope  to  regulations  already 


IV.]  The   Towns.  59 

recognised  in  many  localities  or  which  formed  part  of 
the  custom  of  London.  The  seven  years'  apprenticeship 
enforced  in  1563  may  be  specified  as  a  case  in  point. 

The  affiliation  of  their  customs  connected  many  of  the 
English  towns  with  one  another;  but  they  were  also  con- 
nected by  a  common  interest,  since  each  was  a  large  contri- 
butor to  the  expenses  of  the  realm.  Besides  the  regular 
payments  which  they  were  bound  to  make  from  year  to  year 
to  the  Exchequer,  occasional  demands  were  exacted  from 
them  in  special  emergencies,  e.g.  when  war  broke  out.  The 
most  remarkable  event  of  the  reign  of  Edward  I  was  the 
formation  of  a  Parliament  to  which  the  towns  sent  repre- 
sentatives, and  in  which  "what  concerned  all  could  be 
approved  by  all."  The  summoning  of  Parliament  gave  the 
towns  an  opportunity  of  making  their  united  voice  felt  in 
regard  to  the  subsidies  they  could  be  called  upon  to  pay,  as 
well  as  in  regard  to  the  rates  at  which  customs  should  be 
charged  on  exports  like  wool,  or  imports  like  wine.  The 
organisation  of  representative  government  was  important 
in  many  respects,  and  certainly  had  far-reaching  effects 
on  English  trade.  By  the  time  of  Richard  II,  the  towns 
were  strong  enough  to  make  themselves  felt  as  the  principal 
factors  in  controlling  the  commercial  policy  of  the  realm. 
In  his  reign  and  subsequently,  the  regulation  and  direction 
of  English  commerce  depended  far  less  on  the  wisdom  shown 
by  separate  municipalities,  than  on  the  decisions  taken  for 
the  nation,  as  a  whole,  by  a  national  Parliament.  From 
the  fifteenth  century  onwards,  the  main  responsibility,  for 
securing  the  well-being  of  English  industry  and  for  promot- 
ing the  development  of  English  commerce,  was  gradually 
transferred  from  municipal  authorities  to  the  national  Parlia- 
ment and  to  executive  institutions,  which,  whether  localised 
or  not,  derived  their  authority  from  the  central  assembly. 


6o     Outlines  of  English  Indus/rial  History.      [Chap. 

But  the  growth  of  Parliamentary  power  at  the  expense  of 
municipal  authority  was  very  gradual.  In  the  fourteenth 
century,  at  all  events,  the  sphere  of  Parliamentary  govern- 
ment was  still  so  limited  that  it  did  not  overshadow  local 
powers;  and  we  find  new  and  active  developments  of  munici- 
pal institutions  under  the  Edwards.  Some  towns  continued 
to  flourish  in  the  fifteenth  century,  but  there  were  many  vicis- 
situdes in  their  story;  the  Black  Death  must  have  been  a 
serious  blow  to  the  prosperity  of  many  places.  Troubles 
connected  with  the  Peasant  Revolt  and  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses  must  have  injured  others;  and  we  cannot  be  surprised 
to  find  evidence,  in  Tudor  times,  that  many  of  them  had 
fallen  into  great  decay,  both  materially  as  regards  their 
streets  and  houses,  and  socially  as  regards  their  institutions. 
But  when  English  commercial  life  was  reinvigorated  in  the 
time  of  Elizabeth,  we  can  note  more  distinctly  how  much 
Parliament  had  advanced  in  power,  and  how  far  town  insti- 
tutions had  fallen  into  the  background.  This  general  state- 
ment of  the  course  of  the  change  becomes  clearer  when  we 
look  at  one  kind  of  institution  in  greater  detail. 

38.  The  towns  had  come  into  being  as  centres  of 
Craft-gilds  commerce ;  in  the  fourteenth  century  we  find 
—their  relation  evidence  that  they  had  so  far  advanced  as  to  be 

to  municipal  .     .      -  -     ,  - . 

authority  and  ccntrcs  of  industry,  and  that  a  corresponding 
to  Gilds  Mar-  modification  of  their  institutions  was  becom- 
ing necessary.  This  may,  perhaps,  be  most 
justly  described  as  the  specialisation  of  the  gild  merchant 
into  several  new  bodies  which  were  known  as  ci-aft-gilds. 
The  distinguishing  feature  of  a  craft-gild  was  not  merely 
that  its  members  all  practised  one  and  the  same  craft,  but 
that  they  had  authority  to  supervise  that  craft  within  some 
definite  area.  The  privilege  was  sometimes  granted  by  the 
king,  or  by  some  outside  power,  as  in  the  case  of  the  L^xeter 


/ 


IV.]  TJic   Towns.  6 1 

tailors;  but  this  was  not  a  wise  arrangement,  as  disagree- 
ments and  disturbances  were  apt  to  arise  in  a  town  where 
any  body  of  workers,  united  under  royal  patronage,  were 
exempted  from  municipal  authority  in  regard  to  all  questions 
connected  with  the  exercise  of  their  calling.  By  far  the 
most  common  type  of  craft-gild  was  that  which  derived  its 
authority  from  the  mayor,  as  chief  magistrate  of  the  town; 
in  such  cases  the  rules  made  by  the  members  could  be 
constantly  overhauled  by  the  mayor  in  the  common  interest 
of  the  townsmen.  Thus  the  cordwainers  of  Exeter  had 
privileges  granted  them  for  one  year  at  a  time,  and  they 
were  unable  to  enforce  rules  which  had  not  been  previously 
submitted  to,  and  approved  by,  the  mayor  and  aldermen. 
In  the  case  of  the  bricklayers  of  Hull,  we  know  of  some 
ordinances  which  were  disallowed  by  the  mayor,  and  to 
which  he  would  not  agree.  But,  subject  to  this  supervision, 
the  craft-gilds  had  very  extensive  powers  for  the  regulation 
of  their  trade.  The  wardens  had  the  right  of  search,  and 
exercised  it  to  see  that  good  materials  were  used,  and  that 
the  processes  of  manufacture  were  properly  performed. 
They  also  took  measures  to  secure  that  workmen  should  be 
properly  trained  by  serving  a  regular  apprenticeship,  and 
they  made  rules  affecting  the  hours  of  labour  and  the  well- 
being  of  those  who  were  employed.  The  purpose  of  the 
institution  was  to  insure,  in  the  interests  of  the  public, 
that  work  should  be  properly  done  by  qualified  men,  and 
also  to  secure  that  such  qualified  men  as  did  good  work 
should  be  adequately  remunerated.  Throughout  the  four- 
teenth and  the  earlier  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  gilds 
appear  to  have  fulfilled  these  duties  successfully  on  the 
whole,  although  it  seems  probable  that  a  large  part  of  the 
urban  population  were  unskilled  helpers,  deriving  but  little 
benefit  from  these  industrial  institutions,  which  were  mainly 


62      Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

concerned  with  the  work  of  skilled  men  of  different 
grades. 

The  dependence  of  these  craft-gilds  upon  municipal 
authority  is  clear  enough.  It  is  the  distinguishing  feature 
which  separates  them  alike  from  the  weavers'  gilds  of  the 
twelfth  century,  and  from  the  chartered  and  patented  com- 
panies of  later  times.  But  it  is  far  harder  to  determine 
their  relation  to  that  primitive  municipal  institution,  the 
gild  merchant  or  hanse,  partly  because  the  traces  of  this 
body  in  the  fourteenth  century  are  very  slight  and  obscure. 
According  to  Dr.  Gross's  investigations,  it  would  seem 
that  the  gilds  merchant  had  almost  ceased  to  take  an 
active  part  in  the  management  of  business  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  although  they  still  continued  to  have  a  nominal 
existence,  and  were  associated  with  civic  pageantry,  such  as 
has  survived  in  the  gatherings  of  the  Preston  gild  each 
twentieth  year.  At  the  very  time  when  we  hear  most  of 
the  formation  and  growth  of  craft-gilds,  we  almost  cease  to 
find  mention  of  those  gilds  merchant,  which  were  so  promi- 
nent in  twelfth  century  charters.  This  serves  to  show  that 
there  was,  at  least,  no  violent  antagonism  between  the  two 
bodies  in  this  country.  Indeed  it  is  far  more  probable  that 
the  craft-gilds  were  gradually  established,  as  one  or  another 
craft  developed,  to  carry  on  one  part  of  that  trade  regulation 
which  had  previously  been  exercised  more  generally  by  the 
gild  merchant.  We  should  thus  regard  the  craft-gilds  as 
specialised  forms  of  the  gild  merchant  rather  than  as  its 
successful  rivals. 

It  certainly  appears  that  the  men  who  enjoyed  full 
membership  of  the  craft  gilds  in  the  fourteenth  century 
had  a  very  similar  status  to  that  of  the  members  of  the  gilds 
merchant  in  the  thirteenth.  They  were  craftsmen  and  deal- 
ers.    As  craftsmen  they  would  have  to  buy  materials  and 


IV.]  The   Toivns.  63 

tools;  as  craftsmen  they  would  wish  to  sell  the  results  of 
their  labour,  and  therefore,  as  craftsmen,  they  had  to  take 
part  in  trading.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  in  twelfth 
century  towns  there  was  any  class  of  store-keepers  or  mer- 
chants who  did  not  practise  some  kind  of  manual  calling; 
even  the  foreign  merchant  was  probably  a  shipman.  The 
members  of  gilds  merchant  in  the  thirteenth  century  were, 
in  all  probability,  craftsmen  first  and  dealers  next,  as  far  as 
the  occupation  of  their  time  went.  The  list  which  Mr. 
Hibbert  gives  of  the  Shrewsbury  gild  merchant  seems  to 
show  that  the  members  were  not  mere  dealers.  When  any 
town  increased  so  far  as  to  have  several  men  of  the  same 
calling,  who  were  empowered  by  the  mayor  to  form  a  craft- 
gild  of  their  own,  they  would  have  less  interest  in  the  general 
business  of  the  gild  merchant.  In  some  such  way  as  this  it 
would  seem  that  most  of  the  members  of  the  gild  merchant 
were  formed  into  craft-gilds,  and  that  these  new  bodies  took 
over  and  carried  out  in  detail  the  sort  of  regulation,  which 
had  been  exercised  by  the  same  class,  but  in  a  more  general 
way,  through  the  gild  merchant.  The  members  of  the  craft- 
gild  had  a  more  effective  instrument  at  their  command,  but 
they  did  not  lose  the  status  of  members  of  the  gild  merchant, 
though  that  larger  body  had  lost  its  importance. 

39.     The  fourteenth  century  appears  to  have  been  the 
time    when    these    craft-gilds    attained    their   „.  , 

o  The  rise  or 

greatest  influence  and  importance.  Those  in  the  Livery 
London  were  especially  famous  and  enrolled  ompames. 
various  princes  as  love-brotliers ;  but  towards  the  end  of 
the  century  we  find  traces  in  that  city  of  the  formation  of 
new  bodies  on  similar  lines,  and  composed  exclusively 
of  men  engaged  in  dealing.  They  had,  of  course,  skill  to 
judge  of  the  quality  of  goods,  and  to  blend  or  sift  the 
commodities  sold.     But  they  were  store-keepers  or  ware- 


64      Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

ir 

housemen  rather  than  artisans.  The  most  prominent  and 
powerful  of  these  companies  was  that  of  the  Grocers,  while 
there  were  others,  like  the  Merchant  Taylors,  who  were 
wholesale  dealers  rather  than  craftsmen.  Similar  trading 
companies,  in  connexion  with  the  cloth  trade,  were  found  in 
Coventry  and  other  provincial  towns  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
Early  in  the  reign  of  Richard  II  an  attempt  was  made  to 
insist  on  a  specialisation  of  callings  in  London,  and  to 
prohibit  those  who  were  engaged  in  industrial  crafts  and 
those  who  were  traders,  from  interfering  in  one  another's 
business.  The  formation  of  these  great  Livery  Companies 
of  traders  is  of  interest  in  many  ways,  but  chiefly  because  it 
shows  the  rise  of  a  class  of  merchant  burgesses  settled  in 
the  towns.  The  trade  at  fairs  was  declining,  because  it  was 
being  transferred  from  occasional  to  regular  centres  of  com- 
merce, and  was  simultaneously  passing  out  of  the  hands  of 
alien  merchants  who. frequented  fairs,  into  those  of  burgesses 
with  exclusive  town  rights. 

40.  Other  aspects  of  town  life  were  not  so  satisfactory; 
Fifteenth  there  was  some  difficulty  in  defining  the  range 
century  diffi-   ^^  ^j-^g  authority  cxcrcised  by  each  craft-gild. 

culties  be-  -'  ^  o 

tween  gilds,     The  various  branches  of  the  leather  trade  and 

and  with  jour-  .,  i   •    1       r    ii         -^.i   •        ^i 

neymen  and  ^^c  proccsscs  which  fell  withm  the  purvicw 
apprentices,  of  the  tanners,  the  cordwainers  and  the  saddlers 
were  not  easily  kept  distinct;  and  the  confusion  gave  rise  to 
much  dispute  between  these  bodies.  Similarly,  the  claim  of 
the  woollen  weavers  to  exercise  jurisdiction  over  linen  weav- 
ers was  contested  in  London;  and  the  different  trades  con- 
cerned in  the  manufacture  of  cloth  seem  sometimes  to  have 
formed  separate  gilds  and  sometimes  to  have  been  amalga- 
mated into  one,  as  at  Coventry  in  the  fifteenth  century.  It  is 
difificult  at  this  time  to  see  the  reason  or  to  understand  the 
bearing  of  these  changes;  but  there  were  other  disputes,  in 


IV.]  The    Foiciis.  65 

connexion  with  fifleenth  century  giUls,  which  present  them  in 
an  unfavourable  light.  Journeymen,  who  had  finished  their 
apprenticeship,  but  who  had  not  set  up  independent  house- 
holds of  their  own,  appear  to  have  resented  their  subordinate 
position,  and  in  several  cases  formed  combinations  among 
themselves  for  a  time.  Though  the  matter  has  not  been  very 
fully  investigated,  it  appears  that  the  journeymen  in  England 
were  less  successful  than  their  brethren  on  the  Continent  in 
forming  permanent  gilds  of  their  own.  But  they  had  some 
temporary  successes,  and  the  struggle  between  the  journey- 
men and  weavers  at  Coventry  appears  to  have  resulted  in  an 
arrangement,  by  which  the  journeymen's  gild  was  recog- 
nised as  a  permanent  but  subordinate  society,  which  paid  a 
contribution  to  the  main  organisation.  These  journeymen 
were  of  course  skilled  men,  though  servants,  and  it  is  not 
always  easy  to  distinguish  their  history  from  that  of  unskilled 
helpers,  who  were  doubtless  a  larger  body  in  some  trades, 
but  of  whose  grievances  little  has  been  put  on  record. 

We  also  hear  of  difficulties  in  connexion  with  the 
position  of  apprentices.  Many  obstacles  hindered  towns- 
men from  procuring  boys  for  service  out  of  rural  districts. 
The  agricultural  decay  which  followed  the  Black  Death 
and  the  progress  of  sheep-farming  caused  some  anxiety 
lest  the  area  of  tillage  should  be  so  greatly  reduced 
as  to  furnish  an  insufficient  food  supply.  A  statute  of 
Richard  II  and,  more  obviously,  one  of  Henry  IV  were 
intended  to  prevent  the  migration  of  country  boys  to  the 
towns,  so  that  an  available  supply  of  rural  labour  might  be 
maintained.  Nor  were  these  statutes  a  dead  letter.  The 
citizens  of  Oxford  distinctly  suffered  from  the  restrictions 
that  were  put  upon  them,  and  failed  to  obtain  an  exemption 
from  this  legislation,  such  as  was  granted  to  London  and 
Norwich. 


66     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

But  when  the  masters  obtained  apprentices  they  did  not 
ahvays  do  their  duty  by  them.  They  did  not  always  teach 
them  properly,  and  there  were  some  justifiable  complaints 
on  the  part  of  apprentices  about  \h.t\x  finding.  In  Coventry 
when  a  master  was  twice  shown  to  be  in  fault  in  this  matter, 
his  apprentice  was  transferred  to  some  other  man,  and  the 
master  was  not  allowed  to  supply  his  place,  at  any  rate  not 
for  a  time.  The  apprentice  was  received  into  the  master's 
house  as  a  member  of  the  family,  and  the  latter  was  respon- 
sible for  his  good  behaviour.  The  system  thus  formed  an 
important  element  with  regard  to  the  police  and  good  order 
of  the  town,  while  it  was  believed  to  give  opportunities  of 
discipline  which  were  salutary,  not  only  for  technical  train- 
ing, but  also  for  the  formation  of  character.  In  this  latter 
aspect  the  apprenticeship  system  was  still  highly  valued  in 
the  earlier  years  of  this  present  century. 

41.  It  appears  that  the  influence  of  these  associations 
Craft-gilds  ^^^  the  maintenance  of  order  had  been  con- 
under  Henry  sidcrably  weakened  before  the  end  of  the  fif- 
viii^—  Na^-"'^^  teenth  century.  At  any  rate  they  did  not  prove 
tionai  control  effective  to  coutrol  the  apprentices  under  the 
of  industry.  ^^^^^  temptations  to  which  they  were  then 
exposed.  An  incursion  of  aliens  from  Italy,  who  came 
to  settle  in  this  country,  was  taking  place  at  this  time, 
though  it  is  difficult  to  assign  any  special  or  definite  reason 
for  the  occurrence.  Of  the  fact,  however,  there  can  be  no 
doubt;  and  with  it  there  was  a  new  bitterness  against  alien 
workmen,  which  showed  itself  partly  in  municipal  regu- 
lations and  partly  in  riots  fomented  by  the  apprentices. 
The  records  of  Shrewsbury  show  that  the  difficulty  was  felt 
far  inland,  but  the  most  violent  outbreak  occurred  in 
London  in  15 17,  on  what  was  long  remembered  as  'Evil 
May-day.'     The  City  authorities  seem  to  have  been  quite 


IV.]  The   Towns.  6y 

helpless  in  the  matter,  and  the  populace,  inciled  by  a 
preacher,  made  an  organised  attack  on  the  aliens. 

There  were  other  sides  on  which  the  craft-gilds  were 
failing  to  discharge  their  public  duties.  From  the  accounts 
which  we  have  of  the  formation  of  the  gilds  in  London,  it  is 
quite  clear  that  though  the  members  desired  to  have  exclusive 
powers,  they  would  not  have  been  entrusted  with  them,  had 
it  not  seemed  probable  that  these  powers  would  be  used  in 
the  public  interest,  and  would  help  to  secure  a  high  character 
of  work,  and  good  quality  of  wares.  Early  in  the  time  of 
Henry  VI,  however,  there  were  complaints  of  "  the  unrea- 
sonable ordinances"  passed  by  the  Companies.  Whether 
from  lack  of  power  or  from  lack  of  will  the  municipal  autho- 
rities seem  to  have  been  unable  to  control  them  properly, 
and  in  1504  a  statute  was  passed  which  did  not  aim  as  in 
1437  at  re-enforcing  municipal  powers,  but  rather  super- 
seded them  and  placed  the  local  craft-gilds  directly  under 
national  supervision.  The  judges  were  to  decide  on  the 
ordinances  which  might  be  allowed,  and  thus  a  double 
check  was  put  on  the  self-interested  action  of  these  gilds, 
where  it  became  injurious  to  the  public.  Even  these  checks 
seem  to  have  been  insufificient,  and  complaints  became 
more  common  and  more  bitter.  In  York,  in  15 19,  the 
Mayor  resumed  the  powers  of  jurisdiction  hitherto  exer- 
cised by  the  gilds,  and  reduced  them  to  the  position  of 
official  informers  in  his  court,  while  the  regulative  statutes 
of  Henry  VIII  show  that  the  grievances,  both  of  appren- 
tices and  of  journeymen,  continued. 

To  some  extent  these  misdeeds  brought  their  own  retri- 
bution upon  the  towns.  Journeymen  who  might  not  set  up 
independently  in  the  towns  where  they  had  served  their 
apprenticeship,  were  inclined  to  migrate  to  other  places. 
This  tendency  was  marked  among  the  clothiers  of  ^Vorcester, 


68     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap.  iv. 

the  rope-makers  of  Bridport,  and  the  coverlet-makers  of 
York.  It  may,  in  part,  have  been  due  to  the  burden  of 
taxation  and  the  pressure  of  the  rates  in  these  towns;  but  as 
it  continued,  the  difficulty  of  making  these  payments  was 
seriously  increased,  and  an  attempt  was  made,  in  the  fiscal 
interest  of  the  country,  to  check  the  migration.  The  ten- 
dency was  so  strong,  however,  that  the  story  of  urban 
life  in  the  sixteenth  century  is  rather  that  of  the  growth  of 
new  industrial  centres  in  suburbs,  or  on  manorial  estates, 
than  of  any  increased  prosperity  in  the  towns  organised 
according  to  the  old  model.  The  decay  of  the  older  towns 
reacted  unfavourably  in  turn  on  their  institutions.  A  statute 
of  Edward  VI  seems  to  have  limited  the  powers  hitherto 
enjoyed  by  the  gilds  of  fixing  wages  and  prices,  and  the 
property  which  they  had  devoted  to  religious  purposes  was 
confiscated  in  the  same  reign:  they  were  not  dissolved,  but 
the  time  had  come  when  they  failed  to  subserve  an  im- 
portant economic  purpose,  and  they  only  survived  like  the 
gilds  merchant  in  occasions  of  hospitality  or  pageantry.  By 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  municipal  control  of  trade  and 
industry  had  been  superseded  by  institutions  which  emanated 
from  national  authority,  even  where  they  chiefly  served  to 
protect  some  locality  from  the  immigration  of  aliens  (§  64). 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  BEGINNINGS   OF   NATIONAL   ECONOMIC   LIFE. 

42.  In  the  preceding  pages  attention  has  occasionally 
been  directed  to  the  many  signs  of  a  national  The  personal 
life  among  the  English;  from  early  times  the   influence  of 

1  •  ^        ,  .  .     the  Kings. 

king  was  the  centre  of  the  nation,  around  continental 
whom  they  rallied  in  the  defence  of  the  realm,  connexions. 
In  the  Norman  period  the  king  and  his  Exchequer  are 
clearly  in  view.  They  provided  the  centre  of  the  whole 
social  system,  and  the  sheriffs,  in  rendering  their  annual  ac- 
counts, formed  the  connecting  link  between  each  separate 
manor  and  the  authority  which  ruled  over  all.  The  king 
was  also  the  greatest  of  all  landowners,  and  all  questions 
of  manorial  management  were  of  importance  to  the  Crown. 
He  was  expected  'to  live  of  his  own,'  and  the  royal 
estates,  when  well  managed,  supplied  the  regular  income 
which  was  required  for  administrative  purposes  in  ordinary 
times.  He  was  also  the  source  of  judicial  authority, 
and  by  the  discharge  of  its  fiscal  obligations  each  estate 
was  brought  into  contact  with  his  officers.  Not  only  was 
he  a  typical  landlord,  but  his  office  was  the  unifying  prin- 
ciple, which  combined  the  separate  isolated  independent 
elements  into  one  whole.     The  personal  character  of  the 

69 


70     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

king  and  his  personal  policy  made  itself  felt  in  all  relations 
of  life;  if  the  king  was  too  weak  to  enforce  order,  the 
public  suffered  from  private  wars  or  from  the  exactions  of 
petty  oppressors;  if  his  policy  was  unwise,  he  might  burden 
the  land  with  excessive,  or  too  frequent,  taxation;  if  his 
administration  was  bad,  he  might  fritter  away  the  royal 
resources  and  leave  the  Crown  impoverished.  The  reign  of 
Henry  III  is  an  instance  of  both  these  latter  forms  of  mal- 
administration, which  were  alike  oppressive  and  wasteful. 
While  there  was  no  side  of  social  life  and  no  place  in 
the  realm  which  was  unaffected  by  the  influence  of  the 
Crown,  there  was  one  department  which  was  most  directly 
within  the  control  of  the  king.  All  matters  of  foreign  policy, 
whether  of  peace  or  of  war,  were  in  his  hands,  and  there- 
fore the  manner  in  which  communication  was  conducted 
between  England  and  Continental  countries  was  especially 
under  his  control.  Dynastic  alliances  and  foreign  ambi- 
tions brought  England  from  an  early  time  into  contact  with 
the  Continent.  King  Offa  made  our  earliest  commercial 
treaty,  when  he  secured  privileges  for  English  pilgrims  and 
merchants  by  his  treaty  with  Charles  the  Great.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  tenth  century  the  daughter  of  Alfred 
cemented  the  connexion  between  England  and  Flanders 
when  she  granted  the  manor  of  Lewisham  to  the  great 
Benedictine  monastery  at  Ghent.  The  power  of  Cnut 
brought  England  into  closer  commercial  relationship  with 
Iceland  and  Norway,  as  well  as  with  Denmark.  The 
Norman  Conquest  strengthened  the  ties  with  Normandy 
and  Flanders,  and  the  Angevins  established  a  connexion 
with  Gascony.  The  carefully  organised  intercourse  with 
the  Low  Countries  was  developed  through  the  influence 
of  Matilda  of  Flanders,  while  the  regular  import  of  wine 
from  the  vineyards  of  Bordeaux  seems  to  have  originated  in 


v.]    The  Beginnings  of  National  Economic  Life.     71 

Plantagenet  times.  The  enterprise  of  Richard  Cccur  de 
Lion  and  the  part  which  he  took  in  the  Crusades  first  intro- 
duced English  seamen  to  the  waters  of  the  Mediterranean, 
and  stimulated  commerce  in  the  products  of  the  East.  John 
and  Henry  III  are  mainly  responsible  for  the  firm  hold 
which  the  Papacy  secured  in  this  country  and  for  the  heavy 
taxation  which  it  levied.  Thus  for  good  or  for  evil  the 
royal  power  was  for  centuries  directly  responsible  for  the 
economic  relations  between  England  and  Continental  lands. 
43.  Along  with  these  early  trading  connexions  we  find 
some  signs  of  a  definite   commercial    policy.   „      ,  »• 

o  ^  -^       Regulation  of 

It   was   desirable    to   encourage    foreign    mer-  foreign  com- 
chants  to   import  the  products  and  manufac-  ^^^'^^  ^^^ 

^  '■  progress  of 

tures  of  other  countries,  so  as  to  make  up  for  internal  de- 
the  deficiencies  of  our  native  resources;  and  veiopment. 
the  settlement  of  the  men  of  the  Emperor  in  the  Steel-yard 
in  London  before  the  Norman  Conquest  shows  that  English 
kings  were  glad  to  give  facilities  for  import  trade.  Evidence 
from  the  same  period  is  forthcoming  as  to  the  principle 
which  guided  them  in  regulating  the  export  trade.  If  the  raw 
products  of  this  realm  could  be  exported  at  profitable  rates, 
it  was  desirable  to  send  them  abroad.  But,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  times,  there  was  no  object  in  forcing  an 
export  trade  unless  it  was  really  remunerative;  even  before 
the  Conquest  limits  were  fixed  and  a  minimum  price  was 
settled,  at  which  goods  might  be  exported;  if  they  did  not 
fetch  this,  it  seemed  wiser  to  keep  them  at  home.  When 
we  remember  that  the  products  of  England  were  the  neces- 
sary materials  for  food  and  shelter,  and  were  not  of  a  nature 
to  spoil  by  keeping,  we  may  be  better  able  to  sympathise 
with  the  desire  to  afford  Englishmen  an  opportunity  of  pro- 
curing these  things  on  easy  terms,  and  to  insist  on  making 
foreigners  pay  a  considerable  equivalent  for  them  before 


72      Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

they  were  sent  out  of  the  country.  The  same  principle 
governed  much  of  Edward  Ill's  legislation  for  the  wool- 
trade,  and  in  one  form  or  another  affected  a  good  deal  of 
medieval  legislation. 

So  far  as  internal  regulation  goes,  the  direct  influence  of 
the  Crown  was  less  important  economically,  but  there  were 
various  ways  in  which  it  initiated  change.  The  influence 
exercised  by  foreign  artisans  on  the  development  of  our 
industries  has  already  been  alluded  to,  but  it  was  with  royal 
approval  that  they  settled  here,  and  under  royal  protection 
that  they  obtained  privileges. 

Again,  each  of  the  several  steps  of  progress  taken  by  the 
towns  received  sanction  from  the  Crown;  for  it  was  by  means 
of  royal  charters  that  they  secured  the  powers  of  regulating 
their  own  internal  economy  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries.  In  some  cases,  perhaps,  enterprising  townsmen 
seized  an  opportunity  afforded  by  royal  necessities,  but  the 
foundation  of  free  towns  by  Edward  I  seems  to  have  been 
directly  due  to  royal  initiative.  The  earliest  regulations 
affecting  weights  and  measures  or  the  quality  of  goods  also 
seem  to  have  emanated  from  the  Crown.  Henry  I  is 
credited  with  the  introduction  of  more  definite  standards, 
and  with  the  punishment  of  the  officials  who  brought  the 
royal  honour  into  discredit  by  diminishing  or  debasing 
the  coinage.  In  the  time  of  Henry  II  we  have  an  Assize  of 
Bread,  based  on  the  experience  of  the  royal  bakers,  and 
establishing  a  sliding  scale  which  fixed  the  proper  weight  for 
a  farthing  loaf  according  to  different  prices  of  corn.  As  early 
as  the  time  of  Richard  I  there  was  an  Assize  of  Measures, 
which,  among  other  things,  settled  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  pieces  of  cloth  exposed  for  sale,  and  subsequently  an 
auinager  was  appointed  to  supervise  it.  This  may  not  im- 
probably indicate  that  there  was  even  then  some  demand 


v.]    TJie  Bcginnuigs  of  National  Economic  Life.     73 

for  English  cloth  abroad,  but  at  any  rate  it  serves  to  show 
that  in  very  early  times,  when  industry  was  least  centralised 
and  local  groups  were  most  isolated  and  self-dependent,  the 
central  authority  was  not  indifferent  to  matters  connected 
witli  foreign  commerce  or  internal  production.  From  the 
time  of  Edward  I,  however,  when  Parliament  took  shape, 
this  central  influence  became  much  more  striking,  and  it 
has  gradually  superseded  manorial  and  municipal  powers 
in  the  regulation  of  affairs  of  every  kind. 

44.     English  national  life  was  carefully  consolidated  in 
the  time  of    Edward    I.     His   general   policy   Edward  i. 
was  to  abstain    from  attempts   at  Continental   National 

unity  and 

aggression  and  to  strengthen  the  reahii  of  national 
England.  His  successes  in  Wales  and  his  less  institutions, 
successful  attempts  in  Scotland  were  all  parts  of  the 
same  scheme  for  making  his  authority  effective  over  the 
whole  of  Great  Britain.  And  as  he  endeavoured  to  reduce 
the  whole  area  to  subjection,  so  he  desired  to  get  rid  of 
extraneous  and  unpliable  elements.  The  constitution  of 
the  towns  in  his  day  seems  to  show  that  most  of  the  foreign 
settlers  were  absorbed  into  the  ordinary  society  of  the 
places  where  they  lived.  The  Jews,  whose  religion  and 
habits  forced  them  to  maintain  an  exceptional  position, 
were  expelled  from  the  country  at  a  considerable  sacrifice 
to  the  revenues  of  the  Crown,  while  Papal  authority  was 
repudiated  when,  as  in  the  case  of  the  alien  priories,  it 
interposed  to  check  the  royal  demands.  And  while  national 
unity  was  thus  consolidated,  national  institutions  were  also 
improved.  The  creation  of  a  Parliament,  which  included 
representation  of  the  boroughs,  was  less  important  for  what 
it  immediately  effected  than  for  the  steady  development  of 
national  self-government  which  it  rendered  possible.  But 
even  its  immediate  work — -police  protection  for  traders  — 


74     Ontluics  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.     [Chap, 

was  not  despicable.  The  Statute  of  Acton  Burnel  (1283) 
did  not  create  a  new  machinery  for  the  recovery  of  debts, 
but  it  gave  a  new  character  and  a  national  importance 
to  the  arrangements  which  had  hitherto  existed  locally  by 
the  custom  of  various  towns. 

Besides  creating  these  representative  institutions,  Ed- 
ward I  showed  that  he  possessed  real  administrative  genius. 
The  changes  which  took  place  in  the  constitution  of  the 
towns  during  his  reign  gave  the  municipal  authorities  a  more 
complete  control  over  the  various  discordant  elements  within 
their  walls,  and  diminished  the  occasions  of  quarrel  with 
other  authorities.  He  also  established  a  new  fiscal  system; 
he  specified  the  definite  ports  through  which  trade  should 
flow  to  and  from  the  realm,  and  he  appointed  customers 
whose  business  it  was  to  collect  the  duties  which  traders 
had  to  pay.  During  his  reign  the  central  authority  was 
brought  to  bear,  so  as  to  give  immensely  improved  facilities 
for  internal  trade. 

45.  When  the  realm  was  thus  consolidated  and  when 
its   national   life   was   regulated    internally,   it 

Edward  III.       ,  .,  ,  ,         ,  ^ 

Foreign  and  became  iiiorc  possible  to  develop  a  commer- 
commerciai  cj.^}  policy,  and  to  make  systematic  arrange- 
ments for  foreign  trade.  This  change  becomes 
noticeable  in  the  time  of  Edward  III.  He  had  a  vigorous 
foreign  policy,  and  apparently  indulged  in  dreams  of  conti- 
nental conquest,  while  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  trading 
and  commercial  considerations  helped  to  determine  the 
form  of  his  contest  with  the  French  king.  England  and 
Flanders  were  closely  bound  together  by  common  industrial 
interests,  as  the  former  supplied  the  raw  wool  which  the 
Flemings  manufactured,  dyed,  and  dressed;  and  a  consi- 
derable number  of  these  skilled  artisans  found  it  advan- 
tageous to  emigrate  to  England  in  133 1  and  1336.     Had 


v.]    The  Beginnings  of  National  Economic  Life.     75 

the  English  king  been  successful  in  establishing  a  claim  to  the 
French  crown  and  in  obtaining  suzerainty  over  the  Flemish 
towns,  the  leading  burghers  would  have  warmly  welcomed 
the  political  connexion  with  England.  In  a  somewhat  simi- 
lar fashion  the  English  provinces  in  the  South  of  France 
supplied  wine  and  other  products,  which  England  could  not 
produce  satisfactorily  from  her  own  soil.  Edward's  desire 
to  be  acknowledged  king  of  France  becomes  more  intelli- 
gible when  we  see  that  thus  he  would  have  secured  a  com- 
plete and  independent  sovereignty  over  this  wine-growing 
district.  It  seems  to  have  been  his  design  to  bring  the 
South  of  France  and  the  manufacturing  districts  of  Flanders 
into  close  connexion  with  England  by  common  subjection 
to  the  English  king;  thus  he  would  have  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  a  great  commercial  empire,  each  part  of  which 
would  have  supplemented  the  requirements  of  the  others. 
To  establish  and  maintain  free  intercommunication  between 
the  different  parts  of  this  empire,  it  was  desirable  to  assert 
the  king's  peace  upon  the  sea,  and  to  diminish  the  risks 
which  traders  underwent  from  the  attacks  of  pirates.  On 
some  such  grounds  Edward  III  put  forward  this  claim  to 
the  sovereignty  of  the  sea,  and  gave  it  expression  by  the 
issue  of  the  noble  —  a  gold  coin  which  was  meant  to  circu- 
late in  Planders  as  well  as  in  England. 

His  conduct  confirms  the  view  that  some  such  scheme 
floated  before  the  minds  of  Edward  and  his  advisers;  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  asserted  his  claim  to  the  crown  of 
France,  and  then  failed  to  press  it  when  the  country  lay  at 
his  feet,  seems  to  show  that  conquest  of  additional  territory 
was  not,  after  all,  his  main  object.  When  the  treaty  of 
Bretigni  was  signed  in  1360, circumstances  had  so  far  changed 
that  he  did  not  stand  out  for  the  scheme  described  above, 
in  its  entirety.     He  ajDpears  to  have  been  satisfied  to  pur- 


'j6     Outlines  of  English  Indus/rial  History.     [Chap. 

chase  immunity  from  Scotch  attacks  by  sacrificing  his 
pretensions  in  Flanders;  but  his  schemes  appear  to  have 
been  statesmanlike,  and  so  much  progress  was  made  in  his 
reign  as  almost  to  justify  the  appellation  which  he  after- 
wards received  of  'Father  of  English  Commerce.' 

46.  In  so  far  as  this  view  of  Edward  Ill's  foreign 
Aliens  in  poHcy  is  corrcct,  it  serves  to  explain  the  line 
England.  which  he  pursucd  in  dealing  with  aliens  in 
tap  e.  Engi^j-K^i^  Alien  merchants  had  always  been 
welcomed  in  this  country,  so  long  as  they  furnished  the 
realm  with  useful  products  from  abroad,  and  while  they 
confined  themselves  to  wholesale  trading  and  did  not  com- 
pete with  Englishmen  in  retail  and  internal  trade.  Under 
Edward  III,  who  desired  to  encourage  frequent  intercom- 
munication with  Flanders  and  Gascony,  the  privileges  of 
aliens  were  interpreted  in  the  largest  sense,  so  that  the 
whole  of  the  shipping  trade  of  the  country  fell  into  their 
hands,  while  they  also  intruded  in  much  of  the  internal 
business.  The  invitation  and  encouragement  extended  to 
weavers  from  abroad,  and  also  to  men  who  practised  other 
callings,  may  all  be  regarded  as  part  of  the  same  policy. 
It  seems,  however,  to  have  awakened  among  Englishmen  a 
decided  jealousy  of  aliens.  This  took  effect  in  the  following 
reign,  when  the  reaction  against  the  policy  of  Edward  III 
made  itself  felt  in  many  ways,  and  obtained  the  support 
of  Parliament  and  the  assent  of  the  Crown. 

There  was  one  direction,  however,  in  which  the  influence 
of  l^dward  III  and  the  legislation  of  his  reign  was  much 
more  permanent.  He  revived,  and  reorganised  more  com- 
pletely the  institution  of  staple  towns  to  which  all  English 
products  should  be  consigned,  and  in  which  the  luiglish  mer- 
chants of  the  staple  should  do  their  business  with  continental 
traders.     Such  staple  towns  had  been  a  common  system  of 


v.]    The  Brgi linings  of  National  Economic  Life.     JJ 

mercantile  policy  from  the  earliest  times.  Carthage  was  a 
staple  town  for  the  products  of  the  Western  Mediterranean 
and  of  a  great  portion  of  Africa:  the  trading  cities  of  Italy, 
Greece,  and  the  /l^'gean  were  forced  by  Carthaginian  fleets 
to  frequent  this  staple,  and  prevented  from  dealing  directly 
with  Spain  or  with  the  other  lands  which  lay  within  the 
sphere  of  their  influence.  In  a  somewhat  similar  fashion 
Bergen  was  a  Norwegian  staple,  whither  the  products  of  the 
Northern  Seas  were  brought,  and  where  other  E^uropean 
merchants  were  forced  to  buy  them,  if  they  wished  to  enter 
on  this  line  of  trade  at  all.  The  concentration  of  trade  at  a 
single  point  was  certainly  convenient  for  the  collection  of 
revenue,  and  the  customs  derived  from  the  staple  commo- 
dities were,  throughout  the  fifteenth  century,  a  very  im- 
portant item  of  the  royal  revenue.  But  the  organisation  of 
staple  towns  would  scarcely  have  been  so  general  and  so 
long  continued  if  it  had  not  been  advantageous  from  the 
merchant's  point  of  view  as  well  as  in  a  fiscal  aspect.  When 
the  streams  of  commerce  were  feeble  and  intermittent 
there  was  a  real  advantage  in  concentrating  them  in  one 
channel.  Buyers  and  sellers  were  each  more  sure  of  a 
good  market,  while  they  could  hope  to  sell  and  to  pur- 
chase goods  on  satisfactory .  terms.  It  was  possible  too 
to  provide  rights  and  privileges  which  rendered  the  mer- 
chant's goods  and  warehouse  secure  from  arbitrary  exactions, 
and  which  gave  him  the  means  of  recovering  his  debts  by 
simple  legal  processes.  Though  they  finally  adopted  it, 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  Tklward  Ill's  advisers  were 
not  clear  as  to  the  advisability  of  the  institution  in  the 
earlier  period  of  the  reign.  Even  after  the  staple  was 
reorganised  in  1353,  there  was  still  some  doubt  as  to  whether 
it  was  wiser  to  fix  on  an  English  or  on  a  Continental  town 
as  the  depot  for  English  goods.     Eventually  the  problem 


y^      Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

was  solved  by  assigning  the  position  to  Calais,  an  English 
town  across  the  Channel;  and  the  merchants  of  the  staple 
formed  the  first  of  the  great  Companies  of  English  merchants 
who  had  special  privileges  assigned  them  for  carrying  on  one 
branch  of  foreign  trade.  They  dealt  in  the  four  staple  com- 
modities, wool,  wool-fells,  hides,  and  lead  —  all,  as  may  be 
observed,  raw  products  —  and  they  shipped  them  to  be  dis- 
posed of  at  the  staple  town  of  Calais.  Their  work  continued 
to  be  of  real  importance,  although  it  diminished  somewhat 
as  the  English  advanced  in  the  knowledge  of  industrial  arts, 
and  ceased  to  export  raw  products  so  largely,  because  they 
worked  up  these  materials  within  the  realm.  The  loss  of 
the  town  of  Calais  put  an  end  to  their  active  trade  there, 
although  the  merchants  continued  to  have  a  certain  status. 
The  Company,  though  shorn  of  its  former  glory,  is  not  even 
yet  extinct. 

47.  With  the  reign  of  Richard  II  the  national  econo- 
.,       ,      ,         mic  life  of  England  seems  to  enter  on  a  new 

New  develop-  o 

ments  under  phasc.  Various  causes  were  at  work  which 
Richard  II.  were  tending  to  transfer  the  business  of  the 
country  from  the  aliens  who  carried  on  the  trade  at  fairs, 
and  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  English  merchants  who 
conducted  their  business  at  their  houses  in  the  towns. 
A  class  of  wealthy  native  merchants  was  coming  into  notice, 
and  they  were  powerful  enough  to  make  their  influence  felt 
in  the  proceedings  of  Parliament. 

Attention  has  been  called  in  a  previous  paragraph  (p.  69) 
to  the  personal  influence  exercised  by  the  king,  but  the  end 
of  the  fourteenth  century  was  the  time  when  an  effective 
public  opinion  began  to  influence  economic  legislation. 
This  maybe  noticed  in  the  Good  Parliament  of  1376,  but  it 
seems  to  have  exerted  itself  more  successfully  in  the  reign  of 
Richard  II.     As  time  went  on  there  came  to  be  occasions 


v.]    The  Bi'giiuiiitgs  of  National  Ecotiojnic  Life.     79 

of  grave  difference  between  the  economic  policy  which  com- 
mended itself  to  the  public  opinion  of  the  country  and  that 
which  was  pursued  by  the  king  and  his  advisers.  But  in  the 
fifteenth  century  Parliament  and  the  Crown  appear  on  the 
whole  to  have  co-operated  together;  though  the  personal 
character  of  the  king  was  no  longer  of  such  exclusive  import- 
ance. There  are  some  signs  of  a  real  public  opinion  from 
the  time  of  Richard  II  onwards  —  not  necessarily  the  opin- 
ion of  a  large  public,  but  one  that  embodied  the  common 
opinion  of  local  aristocracies  of  wealthy  burgesses. 

By  the  time  of  Richard  II,  too,  the  process  of  superseding 
local  by  national  administration,  which  has  been  described 
above  (p.  59),  had  gone  a  considerable  way.  It  was  much 
more  possible  to  enforce  similar  trade  regulations  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  and  even  to  carry  out  a  similar  trade 
policy,  than  it  would  have  been  in  the  days  of  Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion. 

48.  But  most  important  of  all,  we  see  that  the  policy 
which  was  pursued  by  Edward  III  was  defi-  pienty  and 
nitely  discarded  by  his  grandson;  and  we  Power, 
find  indications  of  another  course,  which,  when  finally 
adopted  and  regularly  pursued,  was  known  as  the  Mercan- 
tile System.  There  is,  however,  no  evidence  that  it  was 
consciously  thought  out  and  deliberately  followed  before 
the  time  of  the  Tudors. 

Probably  different  parts  of  the  system  were  introduced 
under  immediate  pressure,  and  because  they  favoured  the 
aspirations  of  English  merchants.  Even  when  thus  fitfully 
adopted,  the  new  policy  amounted  to  a  deliberate  rejection 
of  the  methods  approved  by  Edward  III.  In  later  times, 
when  it  was  completely  systematised,  as  for  example  under 
the  Tudors,  it  is  seen  to  be  a  commercial  policy  which 
aimed  not  merely  at  securing  plenty  of  foreign  products. 


8o     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

since  it  also  tended  towards  the  power  of  the  reahii.  This,  as 
Bacon  saw, was  the  crucial  difference;  Edward  HI, by  favour- 
ing the  easy  access  of  alien  merchants,  pursued  a  policy  of 
plcntx,  since  they  brought  large  quantities  of  foreign  goods 
in  their  ships;  he  imperfectly  anticipated  the  free  trade 
policy  of  England  at  the  present  time,  which  aims  at 
securing  plenty  of  foreign  food  and  foreign  materials  for 
English  consumers.  Those  on  the  other  hand  who  advocated 
the  mercantile,  polic}^  aimed  at  promoting  the  political 
power  of  the  realm,  and  were  ready  to  subordinate  the 
convenience  of  producers  and  to  sacrifice  the  comforts  and 
tastes  of  consumers  to  this  great  national  object. 

This  was  the  one  great  aim  which  more  or  less  con- 
sciously dominated  our  economic  policy  for  centuries; 
when  we  bear  it  steadily  in  mind,  much  of  the  fidgety  and 
petty  legislation  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
becomes  intelligible,  even  if  we  still  regard  it  as  unwise. 
The  Mercantile  System,  as  completely  thought  out,  rested 
on  the  principle,  not  of  fostering  industry  and  commerce 
for  their  own  sakes,  but  of  trying  to  guide  them  into  such 
directions  that  they  should  subserve  the  political  power  of 
the  realm.  Similar  schemes  were  in  vogue  in  different 
countries,  in  Spain,  France,  Holland,  and  elsewhere,  but 
the  special  form  which  economic  policy  took  in  our  case 
was  due  to  the  special  conditions  of  our  national  life.  An 
island  realm  can  only  be  strong  either  for  defence  or 
offence  when  it  is  a  naval  power;  and  hence,  the  develop- 
ment of  our  shipping  and  the  encouragement  of  our 
commerce  gradually  came  to  be  the  most  prominent  feat- 
ures in  the  economic  policy  of  the  realm. 

There  are  three  elements  in  political  strength  which 
may  be  considered  in  turn.  First,  sufficient  food  must  be 
procurable  to  provide  for  the  maintenance  and  rearing  of  a 


v.]     The  Beginnings  of  Ncxtional  Economic  Life.     8 1 

well-nourished  population  from  which  soldiers  and  sailors 
maybe  drawn:  secondly,  a  sufficient  supply  of  money  or 
treasure  must  be  available  in  the  royal  coffers  to  meet  any 
emergency,  and  this  in  a  realm  that  has  no  mines  can 
only  be  amassed  by  the  carefid  regulation  of  industry  and 
trade;  last  and  not  least  in  the  case  of  England,  it  has 
been  necessary  to  develop  shipping  with  its  subsidiary  em- 
jiloyments.  Great  pains  have  been  taken  at  different  times 
to  strengthen  the  country  on  all  these  sides.  It  is  not 
possible  to  separate  them  altogether  from  one  another,  for 
each  factor  in  our  industrial  life  has  had  a  double  bearing, 
and  success  in  one  direction  has  often  reacted  favourably 
on  another.  Thus  (i)  the  obtaining  of  an  adequate  food 
supply,  (ii)  the  progress  of  industry,  and  (iii)  the  develop- 
ment of  commerce  were  partly  pursued  as  independent 
objects,  but  there  was  also  (iv)  an  underlying  policy,  which 
insisted  on  treating  them  with  conscious  reference  to  the 
offensive  and  defensive  strength  of  the  realm.  Keeping 
these  main  points  in  view  it  may  be  convenient  to  deal 
with  them  in  turn,  and  to  indicate  the  various  ways  in 
which  the  strong  hand  of  the  central  authority  has  exercised 
its  influence  on  each. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE   VARIOUS   SIDES  OF  NATIONAL   ECONOMIC   LIFE. 

/.     The  Food  Supply. 

49.  There  were  special  circumstances  in  the  time  of 
Richard  II  and  in  subsequent  reigns  which 
tion  of'the  gavc  risc  to  anxiety  with  regard  to  our  food 
rural  popuia-  supply.  The  disorganisation  of  rural  society 
and  the  increase  of  sheep-farming,  which  en- 
sued on  the  Black  Death,  seemed  to  threaten  widespread 
disaster.  If  the  land  were  allowed  to  go  out  of  cultivation, 
it  would  be  impossible  to  procure  sufficient  corn  for  the 
subsistence  of  the  people;  and  hence  we  have  a  succession 
of  legislative  measures  which  were  definitely  intended  to 
promote  tillage. 

Among  the  earlier  regulations  of  this  sort  were  restric- 
tive laws,  which  were  devised  to  prevent  the  migration  of 
the  rural  population  to  the  towns.  This  may  have  been, 
to  some  extent,  a  military  precaution,  as  it  was  generally 
believed  that  an  outdoor  country  life  was  favourable  to  the 
development  of  a  population,  which  should  be  physically 
capable  of  rendering  effective  service  in  time  of  war;  while 
the  depopulation  of  the  coasts  was  also  a  military  danger, 
since  the  sheep  and  their  shepherds  could  offer  no  effective 

82 


Chap.  VI.]  The  Food  Supply.  83 

resistance  to  the  landing  of  a  hostile  force.  But  the  main 
object  of  the  measures,  which  restrained  the  country  people 
from  migrating  to  the  towns,  was  that  of  maintaining  suffi- 
cient rural  labour  to  carry  on  cultivation.  Although,  in 
some  cases,  those  who  were  ready  to  work  were  evicted  to 
make  room  for  sheep,  yet  in  the  fourteenth  century  it  was  a 
matter  of  more  common  complaint  that  labourers  could 
hardly  be  obtained  in  agricultural  districts.  There  is  much 
said  in  the  present  day  about  the  flocking  of  the  rural  popula- 
tion to  the  towns,  but  it  is  not  a  new  phenomenon ;  for  active 
efforts  were  made  to  check  it  nearly  five  centuries  ago. 
In  the  time  of  Richard  II  legislation  only  affected  adult 
labourers,  but  under  Henry  IV  and  Henry  VI  stringent 
measures  were  passed  to  prevent  the  children  of  rural 
labourers  from  becoming  apprentices.  Efforts  were  made 
to  keep  the  rising  generation  on  the  soil;  that  these 
measures  were  not  inoperative  is  shown  by  the  complaints 
of  the  men  of  Oxford  as  to  the  decay  of  their  trades,  and 
by  their  fruitless  efforts  to  obtain  exemption.  In  the  great 
Statute  of  Apprentices  (1563),  this  principle  was  incor- 
porated. Special  facilities  were  given  for  training  boys  to 
those  employments  which  were  subsidiary  to  agriculture,  if 
not  to  agriculture  itself.  And  the  distinction  was  so  far 
maintained  and  acted  upon  that  this  point  was  noted  as  an 
important  factor  in  the  decay  of  the  domestic  system,  and 
the  growth  of  factories  as  late  as  1804.^ 

50.     Another  method  of  favouring  tillage  and  preventing 
the  development  of  sheep-farming  is  found  in   „ 

^  _      _  ^  ^  Restrictions 

the   Statutes   restricting  the  number  of    sheep   on  sheep- 
which    any    one    man    might    possess.      Two  farming. 

1  Mr.  Cookson  of  Leeds  argued  before  a  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons  that  it  was  desirable  to  modify  the  Act  of  1563,  so  as  to 
favour  apprenticeship  to  the  Clothing  trades  in  rural  districts. 


84     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

thousand  was  regarded  as  an  outside  limit  in  tlie  time  of 
Henry  VIII,  and  Edward  VI  expressed  himself  personally 
in  favour  of  such  a  course.  But  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  a 
statute  of  this  kind  could  be  enforced,  since  evasion  was 
not  difficult.  Another  series  of  measures  with  a  similar 
object  was  also  enacted.  These  rendered  landowners  re- 
sponsible for  re-erecting  any  houses  of  husbandry  that  had 
fallen  into  decay  within  a  given  period.  The  most  celebrated 
of  these  measures  followed  on  the  official  enquiry  of  15 17, 
which  disclosed  a  considerable  amount  of  depopulation  dur- 
ing the  previous  twenty-eight  years.  Similar  measures  were 
passed  under  Elizabeth  when  the  price  of  wool  was,  on  the 
whole,  very  high.  In  1592  it  had  dropped,  and  with  the  low- 
ered price  of  wool  Francis  Bacon  thought  that  the  motive  to 
depopulate  no  longer  came  into  play.  In  the  five  following 
years,  with  a  higher  price  there  was  some  recrudescence 
of  the  tendency,  but  it  appears  to  have  so  far  ceased  to 
operate  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  James  I  that  such 
restrictive  measures  were  no  longer  necessary. 

51.     Other  schemes  for  the  encouragement  of  tillage 
,,  .  ,  were  also  organised   and  maintained:   the  fa- 

Maintenance  ° 

of  the  high  vourite  expedient  in  the  Elizabethan  time 
price  of  corn.  j^jj-^^g(-|  r^^  securing  that  the  farmer  should  have 
a  remunerative  price  for  his  corn.  The  traditional  method 
of  securing  cheap  food  had  been  embodied  in  Solon's  legis- 
lation and  prohibited  export;  but  in  a  country  where  there 
was  any  choice  about  the  kind  of  cultivation  or  the  extent  of 
cultivation,  such  restrictions  were  apt  to  defeat  themselves, 
A  wiser  course,  suggested  as  early  as  the  time  of  Edward  VI, 
was  that  of  giving  greater  liberty  for  export,  especially  when 
corn  was  unusually  cheap.  In  this  way  the  farmer  could 
count  on  getting  a  remunerative  price  even  in  very  plentiful 
years,    This  line  of  policy  was  embodied  in  the  celebrated 


VI.]  The  Food  Supply.  85 

Corn  Bounty  Law  of  William  III  (16S9),  which  appears  to 
have  accomplished  its  object  with  wonderful  success.  Pro- 
bably corn  was  not  as  cheap  as  it  would  otherwise  have  been, 
especially  in  plentiful  years.  But  the  price  was  kept  ex- 
ceedingly steady  at  a  moderate  level,  which  yet  afforded  an 
ample  profit  to  the  agriculturist.  Under  these  circumstances 
he  was  encouraged  to  farm  on  a  larger  scale  and  by  im- 
proved methods;  so  much  land  was  thus  brought  into 
cultivation,  that  even  in  unfavourable  seasons  there  was  a 
sufficient  supply  of  native  grown  corn  and  the  price  rose 
but  little. 

52.  Well  adapted  to  its  ends  though  this  policy  appears 
to  have  been,  it  could  not  be  indefinitely  pur- 
sued. It  was  only  practicable  when  a  large  conditions  of 
area  of  land  was  available  for  cultivation  at  a  com-growmg. 
moderate  expense.  When  population  increased,  and  with 
it  the  demand  for  additional  food,  this  could  not  be  remu- 
neratively procured  from  England  alone.  Till  1773  England 
was  able  to  supply  her  own  wants  entirely,  and  generally  to 
send  some  surplus  corn  to  Sweden  and  other  countries.  But 
from  1773  ^o  1793  there  was  a  period  when  the  demand 
and  the  supply  were  almost  equally  balanced;  when  there 
was  very  little  export  of  corn,  and  when  importation  was 
often  necessary  (§  118).  From  1793  onwards  the  change 
was  complete,  and  England  became  permanently  and 
regularly  dependent  on  foreign  countries  for  a  supply  of 
food.  The  problem  of  national  subsistence  thus  assumed 
a  new  form,  and  the  Corn  Laws,  which  had  been  devised 
for  entirely  different  circumstances,  ceased  to  serve  their 
purpose. 

53.  In  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
difficulty  of  procuring  sufficient  food  for  the  English  popu- 
lation made  itself  felt  in  the  severest  fashion.     There  were 


86     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

several  successive  seasons  of  exceedingly  bad  harvests;  and 
c^o,^f,  o„^       during  the  time  of  war,  it  was  almost  impos- 

ocarcity  and  o  '  i 

the  allowance  siblc  to  procure  from  foreign  countries  the 
system.  supply  of  com  which  the  nation  now  required, 

even  in  fairly  good  years.  The  distress  of  the  labouring 
poor  was  terrible,  and  all  sorts  of  expedients  were  devised 
to  meet  it.  Some  benefit  may  have  accrued  from  the  efforts 
which  were  made  by  the  wealthy  to  restrict  the  consumption 
of  corn  in  their  households;  thus  the  inhabitants  of  Ken- 
sington on  one  occasion  decided  to  abjure  pastry.  But, 
after  all,  such  devices,  though  testifying  to  a  widespread 
sympathy  for  the  poor,  would  add  comparatively  little  to 
the  stock  of  corn  available  for  their  support.  There  was  a 
general  demand,  which  found  favour  in  many  quarters,  for 
the  regulation  of  wages  by  a  sliding  scale,  so  that  the 
working  man  might  have  more  power  of  purchasing  food; 
but  this  scheme,  though  plausible,  was  felt  to  be  imprac- 
ticable as  a  measure  of  relief.  It  would  only  increase  the 
effectual  demand  for  corn,  even  at  a  high  price,  and  thus  tend 
to  drive  the  price  higher  and  higher  with  each  new  advance 
of  wages.  The  way  out  of  the  difficulty,  which  was  eventually 
adopted,  was  fraught  with  disastrous  consequences  in  pauper- 
ising the  rural  population.  This  was  the  system  introduced 
by  the  Berkshire  Justices  in  1795  of  giving  allowances  of 
food  to  supplement  the  meagre  earnings  of  the  labourer. 
It  seemed  to  be  the  common  sense  way  of  meeting  the  diffi- 
culty, in  the  most  direct  manner,  with  the  least  dislocation 
of  ordinary  trade.  It  was  evidently  intended  as  a  temporary 
expedient,  and  had  it  been  merely  temporary  it  might  have 
served  its  purpose  in  the  least  costly  fashion.  But  the  con- 
tinuance of  war,  together  with  the  decay  of  by-employments 
in  rural  districts  which  followed  on  the  introduction  of 
machine  spinning,  rendered  it  impossible  to  revert  to  the 


VI.]  The  Food  Supply.  Sy 

old  order;  and  allowances,  with  all  their  demoralising  and 
pauperising  effects,  came  to  be  an  integral  part  of  our  in- 
dustrial system.  They  served,  indeed,  to  tide  over  the  worst 
period  of  distress,  but  at  the  cost  of  a  serious  deterioration 
in  the  character  of  the  rural  labourers. 

54.     Much    controversy   ensued    and    many    interests 
were  sacrificed  before  the  English  Parliament 

.  .    .  Excuses  for 

determined  to  accept  a  position  of  per-  and  effects  of 
manent  dependence  for  a  substantial  portion  t^e  corn  Law 
of  our  national  food  supply  on  foreign  corn,  °  ^  '^' 
purchased  with  the  results  of  national  industry  and  with 
national  mineral  wealth.  While  foreign  corn  was  practically 
excluded  by  the  war,  the  rural  classes,  landlords,  farmers, 
and  yeomanry  had  been  very  prosperous;  and  owing  to  the 
high  price  of  corn  they  had  not  seriously  felt  the  great  in- 
crease of  the  rates.  To  them  the  admission  of  foreign  corn 
and  a  sudden  fall  of  price  would  have  meant  ruin  (§  120); 
and  the  ruin  of  the  agricultural  interest  would  surely  have 
been  followed  by  the  still  deeper  misery  of  the  agricultural 
labourers.  The  analogy  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  seemed  to  show  that  an  artificial  method  of  ren- 
dering agriculture  remunerative  was  quite  compatible  with 
the  prosperity  of  all  rural  classes,  and  with  the  comfort  of 
the  artisans,  if  only  they  were  sufBciently  paid.  The  analogy 
was  false,  for  circumstances  had  greatly  changed,  and 
our  soil  no  longer  afforded  an  ample  home  supply  of  food 
with  a  margin  for  export.  Still,  the  project  was  so  far 
plausible  that  Parliament  passed  the  Corn  Law  of  1815, 
which  prohibited  importation  till  corn  should  reach  the  price 
of  Sos.  per  quarter.  The  landed  interest  had  their  way,  and 
they  were  inclined  to  urge  that  the  distress  in  the  manufac- 
turing towns  should  be  met  by  a  rise  of  wages. 

But  this  expedient  was  impracticable.     The  close  of  the 


88      Outlines  of  English  Lidustrial  History.     [Chap. 

war  did  not  open  up  any  new  markets  for  English  goods. 
Tiiey  had  previously  been  smuggled  into  the  countries  from 
which  they  were  officially  excluded,  and  the  poverty,  which 
followed  in  the  wake  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  prevented  any 
active  demand  from  the  Continent.  Besides  this,  some  of 
these  countries  had  little  but  corn  with  which  to  pay  for  Eng- 
lish goods,  and  the  Corn  Law  prevented  them  from  purchas- 
ing with  the  only  commodity  that  was  available  to  them. 
With  such  reduced  demands  from  abroad,  English  manufac- 
turers could  not  give  much  employment,  far  less  could  they 
raise  the  rate  of  pay.  Even  as  regards  the  home  market,  the 
poverty  of  the  working  classes  and  the  dearness  of  food 
rendered  it  impossible  for  them  to  spend  as  much  as  they 
had  previously  done  on  manufactured  goods.  The  Corn  Laws 
interfered  with  the  foreign  demand  for  our  commodities,  and 
by  causingahigh  price  diminished  the  home  demand.  Hence 
it  was  that  the  manufacturers,  headed  by  Cobden  and  Bright, 
demanded  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  They  urged  that 
apart  from  their  injurious  effects,  they  were  unnecessary, 
since  the  prosperity  of  our  manufactures  would  enable  us  to 
purchase  a  sufficient  quantity  of  food.  Thirty-one  years  after 
the  landed  interest  had  been  buttressed  by  the  Corn  Law  of 
1815,  the  manufacturing  interest  procured  its  repeal  (1846). 
According  to  the  new  policy  then  entered  upon,  our  national 
food  supply  is  not  wholly  produced  at  home,  but  is  chiefly  pur- 
chased from  abroad,  and  the  maintenance  of  our  commercial 
supremacy,  and  the  success  of  our  manufacturing  industry, 
have  come  to  be  essential  for  procuring  national  subsistence. 
55.  When  this  change  was  brought  about  there  were 
Political  those  who  argued  that  such   dependence  on 

and  economic   food  Supplies  from  abroad  would  be  a  grave 
results  of  its     political  danger,  and  that  in  time  of  war  our 
enemies  might  cut  off  our  supplies  and  starve 


VI.]  hidiistrial  Life.  89 

us  into  complete  submission.  So  far  this  fear  has  not  been 
realised;  the  warning  failed  to  attract  much  attention,  be- 
cause it  was  clear,  from  the  experience  of  the  twenty  years 
after  Waterloo  (1815),  that  the  Corn  Law  with  all  its  disad- 
vantages did  not  render  us  really  self-sufficing,  or  give  us 
complete  immunity  from  this  danger.  But  apart  altogether 
from  the  political  question,  it  may  be  said  that  our  eco- 
nomic prosperity,  if  far  greater,  rests  on  a  less  stable  basis 
than  it  did  in  earlier  days.  A  countiy,  which  has  its  own 
resources  of  food  and  the  materials  for  its  own  manufactures 
within  itself,  is  liable  to  fewer  risks  and  dangers  than  one 
which  is  dependent  on  outside  supplies  for  the  very  neces- 
saries of  existence.  The  sudden  collapse  of  the  industrial 
and  commercial  greatness  of  Athens  is,  at  least,  a  warning 
of  the  inherent  weakness  of  any  society  which  can  only 
procure  its  food  and  its  materials  through  the  efficiency  of 
its  marine. 

//.      Industrial  Life. 

56.  When  we  trace  the  history  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  in  Labourers' 
the  regulation  of  industry,  as  on  all  other  sides  wages, 
of  economic  life,  the  promotion  of  national  power  was  a 
paramount  consideration.  Every  effort  was  made  to  provide 
employment  for  the  people,  so  that  an  effective  population 
might  be  maintained;  and  a  distinct  preference  was  shown 
for  those  kinds  of  industry  which  favoured  the  influx  of  the 
precious  metals,  and  thus  gave  the  means  of  accumulating 
treasure  in  the  royal  coffers.  These  points  may  be  brought 
out  below;  in  the  mean  time  it  is  more  important  to  notice 
how  the  national  machinery  for  regulation  was  slowly  formed, 
and  to  show  what  a  firm  grip  it  had  on  every  side  of  indus- 
trial life.      National  administrators  began  to  do  more  effec- 


90     Oiitlijies  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

lively  what  manorial  and  civic  authorities  had  hitherto 
attempted,  and  to  make  wise  regulations  for  the  quality  of 
goods  and  the  conditions  and  terms  of  employment. 

The  Black  Death  marks  the  time  when  these  matters 
were  first  taken  cognisance  of  by  Parliament.  So  far  as 
questions  of  the  times  of  work  or  the  reward  of  agri- 
culturists arose  before  that  epoch,  they  were  apparently 
decided  in  each  particular  manor  in  accordance  with  its 
custom.  The  Statutes  of  Labourers,  passed  by  Edward  III, 
confirmed  customary  wages  in  some  callings,  and  entrusted 
the  enforcement  of  the  law  to  the  Justices  of  the  Peace. 
These  officials  also  possessed  discretionary  powers  to  fix 
wages  in  a  few  occupations,  but  in  the  reign  of  Richard  II 
(1389)  they  were  empowered  to  assess  wages  more  generally, 
and  according  to  the  plenty  or  scarcity  of  the  time.  In 
subsequent  reigns  their  duties  were  more  commonly  limited 
to  the  proclamation  and  enforcement  of  statutory  rates, 
fixed  either  absolutely  or  within  certain  limits  by  Parliament. 
Occasionally  they  were  authorised  to  assess  as  well  as  to 
proclaim  a  scale  of  wages:  this  latter  plan  was  definitely 
adopted  by  Elizabeth  in  the  Statute  of  Apprentices  (1563), 
and  very  severe  penalties  were  threatened  against  those 
justices  who  neglected  their  duty.  During  a  period  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy  years  there  are,  however,  only  some 
thirty  cases  when  they  are  known  to  have  acted  on  their 
powers  at  all,  and  there  is  only  one  known  case  when 
their  decision  as  to  the  rates  of  wage  was  enforced  under 
penalties.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is  hard  to  believe 
that  this  portion  of  the  statute  was  ever  vigorously  carried 
out.  It  is  obvious  that  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  it  was  not  in  general  use,  although  it  was  occa- 
sionally acted  on  in  Shropshire.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
attempts,  which  were  made  in  17 28  and   1756  to  enforce 


VI.]  Industrial  Life.  9 1 

a  similar  line  of  policy  in  the  interests  of  the  clothing 
trade  in  Gloucestershire,  show  that  this  measure  was  quite 
neglected  and  practically  unknown  in  that  county. 

During  the  period  of  great  distress  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  when  food  was  so  dear  and  remunera- 
tion was  so  inadequate,  it  was  proposed  in  Parliament  to 
amend  the  old  law  and  to  impose  on  the  justices  the  duty 
of  fixing  a  minimum  wage.  Some  of  the  reasons  against 
this  attempt  have  been  indicated  in  a  preceding  section 
(p.  86),  but  it  was  also  obvious  that  an  attempt  to  raise 
wages  suddenly  might  lead  to  the  dismissal  of  all  the  aged 
or  inefficient,  whose  work  was  not  worth  a  high  rate  of  pay. 
This  seems  to  have  been  the  last  attempt  to  revive  this 
policy  for  rural  districts;  but  at  a  time  of  terrible  distress, 
the  cotton  operatives  in  Lancashire  fell  back  on  the  pro- 
visions of  this  Act  as  a  means  of  securing  the  object 
they  had  in  view  —  the  legal  determination  of  'a  living 
wage,'  which  should  be  regarded  as  a  minimum.  The 
employers  and  the  magistrates  appear  to  have  been  favour- 
able to  the  plan,  but  Parliament  pronounced  against  it, 
and  repealed  the  clauses  by  which  the  justices  had  been 
required  to  regulate  wages  (18 13).  This  great  department 
of  national  well-being,  which  had  been  regulated  in  early 
times  by  the  several  customs  of  distinct  manors,  was  treated 
as  a  proper  subject  for  supervision  by  royally  commissioned 
officials  from  the  time  of  Edward  III  till  1813,  when  the 
policy  of  laissez  /aire  triumphed,  and  this  with  so  much 
else  was  left  to  be  adjusted  by  private  bargaining  and 
free  competition. 

57.     We  hardly  know  if  there  was  any  definite  custom 
affecting  the  relief  of  the  poor  on  medieval     p^^^.  ^^y^^^ 
manors,  though  some  provision  was  made  for     under  EUza- 
them  in  certain  towns.     The  charity  of  which      ^'  ' 


92     Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

we  hear  most  was  that  distributed  by  the  monasteries  in 
doles;  while  a  large  portion  of  the  rural  population  were 
restricted  to,  and  had  rights  on,  the  land.  The  problems 
of  rural  pauperism  must  have  been  very  different  from  those 
which  we  have  to  face  at  the  present  day.  In  Tudor  times, 
however,  the  increase  of  sheep-farming  and  the  diminution 
of  agricultural  employment  combined  with  other  causes  to 
bring  out  the  necessity  for  organising  a  regular  system  of 
poor  relief.  And  Parliament  encouraged  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  to  deal  with  the  matter.  The  old  agencies  of 
rural  government,  such  as  the  manor,  were  not  called  upon 
to  undertake  the  responsibility.  The  parish,  an  ecclesias- 
tical division,  was  taken  as  the  area  to  be  dealt  with,  and 
ecclesiastical  officers,  the  churchwardens,  were  originally 
authorised  to  exercise  compulsory  powers  in  gathering 
money  to  be  used  as  poor  relief,  though  additional  over- 
seers were  subsequently  appointed.  A  new  national  system 
was  completed  to  meet  this  national  need  (1601),  though  it 
was  greatly  decentralised,  and  the  parish  authorities  were 
under  little  effective  control  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they 
discharged  their  duties. 

58.  The  available  resources,  in  different  parishes,  dif- 
The  Act  of  fered  greatly,  and  in  the  seventeenth  century 
Settlement,  vagrants  wcrc  inclined  to  fasten  themselves  on 
some  parish,  where  the  common  waste  was  good,  and  the 
parish  stock  was  large.  With  a  view  to  guarding  against  this 
unfairness,  an  Act  of  parochial  settlement  was  passed  under 
Charles  II  (1662),  which  carefully  defined  for  what  poor 
each  parish  should  be  responsible.  This  measure  had  many 
unexpected  and  disastrous  effects.  Each  parish  was  able 
to  prevent  the  ingress  of  outsiders  to  reside  within  its 
bounds,  if  there  seemed  any  danger  of  their  becoming 
chargeable  on  the  rates.     And  by  this  means  a  new  obstacle 


VI.]  Indus /rial  Life.  93 

was  created,  which  acted  ahnost  as  serfdom  had  done,  in 
tying  the  labourer  to  his  native  place  and  preventing  him 
from  seeking  better  employment  elsewhere. 

The  mutual  jealousy  of  parishes  and  a  desire  to  reduce  the 
pressure  of  their  rates  led  at  times  to  great  harshness  in  the 
treatment  of  the  poor,  and  to  a  war  on  cottages  on  the  part 
of  some  landlords.  In  some  open  parishes,  where  there  were 
many  small  proprietors  and  ho  common  policy  among  them, 
many  houses  were  run  up,  and  the  cottagers  who  were  ex- 
pelled from  neighbouring  parishes  resorted  thither.  Castle 
Acre  in  Norfolk  was  particularly  notorious  in  this  re- 
spect; there  a  demoralising  practice  arose  in  the  present 
century  of  forming  gangs  of  mere  children,  who  were  little 
better  than  the  slaves  of  a  master,  and  who  were  hired  in 
masses  to  do  field  labour  in  thinly  populated  parishes.  This 
was  a  serious  if  exceptional  evil  to  which  attention  was 
directed  in  1843. 

59.  There  were  other  evils  connected  with  the  admini- 
stration of  poor  relief;  assistance  was  given  Employment 
as  outdoor  relief,  and  there  was  a  curious  for  the  poor, 
alternation  between  heartless  stringency  and  undue  laxity 
in  the  method  of  administration.  During  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries  there  was  a  continual  struggle  to 
find  some  system  by  which  work  might  be  provided,  so 
that  the  idle  might  be  discriminated  from  the  unfortunate. 
In  the  seventeenth  century  the  chief  expedient  was  to 
teach  spinning,  and  the  wide  diffusion  of  this  art  in  the 
eighteenth  century  was  not  improbably  due  to  the  efforts  of 
local  authorities  to  popularise  it.  At  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  pauperism  increased  by  leaps  and  bounds; 
this  gave  rise  to  widespread  alarm,  and  resulted  in  a  number 
of  attempts  to  institute  workhouses,  where  the  adult  poor 
might  find  employment.     There  were,  however,  grave  diffi- 


94     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

culties  in  making  them  remunerative,  and  the  check  which 
pauperism  received  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  can  hardly  be  ascribed  to  their  influence.  It  was 
more  probably  due  to  the  improved  agricultural  conditions 
of  that  time,  which  removed  some  of  the  causes  of  poverty, 
and  to  the  demand  which  arose  for  able-bodied  labour  in  the 
American  colonies.  These  circumstances,  together  with  the 
general  stringency  of  administration  which  came  into  fash- 
ion, kept  down  the  evil  in  a  somewhat  ruthless  way,  but 
towards  the  end  of  the  century,  there  was  a  reaction  in  favour 
of  a  more  generous  treatment  of  the  poor.  This  found  ex- 
pression in  Gilbert's  Act  in  1 782,  and  still  more  in  the  action 
of  the  justices  who  in  1795  granted  allowances  from  the  rates 
to  supplement  the  income  of  labouring  families. 

60.  The  circumstances  which  called  forth  this  disas- 
Aiiowances  trous  mcasure  have  been  described  above  (p. 
and  the  new  §6),  but  a  wool  famine  which  occurred  about 
the  same  time  threw  many  spinners  out  of  em- 
ployment, or  forced  them  to  work  at  unremunerative  rates. 
The  allowances  seem  to  have  been  an  expedient  for  giving 
a  temporary  substitute  in  lieu  of  the  earnings  of  women 
and  children.  But  as  domestic  spinning  never  revived,  this 
temporary  measure  came  to  be  a  permanent  institution,  and 
during  the  first  thirty  years  of  the  present  century  outdoor 
relief  was  largely  given  in  forms  which  tended  to  foster 
a  pauper  class. 

These  various  evils  were  so  crying  that  a  drastic  measure 
of  reform  was  rendered  necessary  in  1834.  A  central  board 
was  created,  which  exercised  wide  control  and  gave  a  more 
uniform  character  to  the  administration  of  poor  relief  in 
different  districts.  It  was  a  time  of  great  national  distress, 
both  rural  and  urban,  and  the  new  authority  carried  out  its 
first  reforms  under  adverse  circumstances.     But  it  has  sue- 


VI.]  Industrial  Life.  95 

ceeded  in  abolishing  the  worst  abuses  of  the  old  days. 
If  national  poor  relief  is  unsympathetically  given  and 
unthankfully  received,  it  is  at  least  less  harsh  and  less 
pauperising  than  it  was  at  various  times  in  the  eighteenth 
century. 

61.  National  organisation  has  come  into  vogue  in 
another  direction  to  provide  facilities  for  in-  internal 
ternal  communication.  This  was  recognised  communica- 
as  a  national  duty  from  the  earliest  times  as 
part  of  the  trinoda  necessitas ;  but  it  had,  in  all  probability, 
more  reference  in  those  days  to  military  than  to  commercial 
convenience.  Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  and  indeed 
until  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary  the  repair  of  the  roads 
appears  to  have  been  left  to  private  munificence.  It  was 
an  object  to  which  the  charitable  devoted  money  in  their 
wills,  and  to  which  the  monasteries  in  their  more  prosperous 
days  gave  considerable  attention.  When  Parliament  took 
the  matter  up,  it  supplemented  rather  than  superseded  the 
action  of  local  authorities.  As  in  the  case  of  poor  relief, 
the  ecclesiastical  organisation  was  used  as  the  agent  for 
effecting  this  important  piece  of  civil  work.  Each  parish 
was  rendered  responsible  for  the  care  of  its  roads,  while  the 
justices  were  called  upon  to  exercise  a  general  supervision 
and  to  see  that  the  parochial  authorities  did  their  duty. 
Increased  prosperity  in  the  eighteenth  century  rendered 
improved  roads  a  commercial  necessity.  A  General  High- 
way Act  was  passed  (1741),  and  the  principle  was  adopted 
of  collecting  tolls,  so  that  those  who  used  the  roads  might 
contribute  to  their  repair.  The  immediate  effect  of  this 
measure  was  surprising;  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  English  roads  had  been  disgracefully  bad,  but  be- 
fore its  close  they  had  attained  to  a  very  high  standard  of 
excellence. 


96     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

62,  From  a  very  early  time  the  central  government 
_,    ...        ,        devoted    some    attention    to    the    quality   of 

Quality  and  1  .' 

price  of  bread  goods  and  to  the  regulation  of  fair  prices, 
and  cloth.  rj^j^^   necessaries  of    life    first   received    con- 

sideration. According  to  the  Assize  of  Bread  already  re- 
ferred to  (p.  72),  efforts  were  made  to  devise  a  self-acting 
system,  which  should  prove  fair  both  to  producers  and  to 
consumers  by  providing  sufficient  remuneration  for  the  baker 
and  his  men,  while  it  secured  that  the  public  should  obtain 
loaves  of  the  right  size  and  weight  for  their  money;  the  loaf 
was  to  be  larger  or  smaller  according  as  corn  was  cheap  or 
dear.  The  due  execution  of  this  Assize  and  the  effective 
punishment  of  those  who  infringed  it  was  part  of  the  ordi- 
nary duties  of  manorial  and  other  local  courts.  As  it  was 
one  of  the  earliest,  so  also  was  it  a  long-continued  piece  of 
national  regulation.  Early  in  the  eighteenth  century  (i  709) 
it  was  re-issued  in  more  modern  phraseology,  and  in  1757, 
when  the  harvest  had  failed,  the  London  magistrates  tried  to 
carry  out  this  policy  stringently.  The  results  were,  however, 
sufficiently  disastrous  to  prove  conclusively  that  the  time 
had  gone  by  when  such  measures  could  be  advantageously 
enforced. 

The  next  great  department  in  which  we  hear  of  national 
regulation  was  in  regard  to  clothing.  A  royal  official,  the 
aulnager,  was  appointed,  whose  business  it  was  to  see  that 
the  cloth  exposed  for  sale  was  of  the  proper  length  and 
breadth.  At  first  his  attention  was  partly  given  to  imported 
cloth,  but  there  are  indications  that  he  was  also  called  upon 
to  supervise  the  product  of  English  looms.  There  were 
various  towns  which  got  into  trouble  for  stretching  their 
cloth  unduly,  and  the  aulnager's  seal  was  intended  to  be  a 
guarantee  that  the  cloth  was  of  sufficient  size  and  weight, 
and  to  render  it  acceptable  to  consumers  either  at  home  or 
abroad.     The  traditional  character  and  objects  of  the  insti- 


VI.]  Industrial  Life.  97 

tution  are  perhaps  most  easily  seen  in  the  time  of  Charles  II, 
when  attempts  were  made  to  foster  a  clothing  trade  in  Ire- 
land. The  appointment  of  an  aulnager  in  that  country  in 
1665  appears  to  have  been  regarded  as  a  step  of  first  im- 
portance, if  there  was  to  be  successful  competition  with  the 
established  industries  of  other  lands.  And  though  English 
economists  and  politicians  took  measures  to  repress  this 
growing  industry,  the  aulnager  and  his  salary  survived. 

With  the  steady  growth  of  the  English  cloth  manufacture 
the  duties  of  the  aulnager  must  have  become  more  and  more 
complicated.  There  are  complaints  from  Norfolk  of  the 
exactions  of  this  officer  in  1328,  and  there  were  special 
difficulties  when  Flemish  weavers,  accustomed  to  different 
measurements,  settled  in  this  country  in  the  time  of  Edward 
III.  The  variety  which  had  been  introduced  into  the  trade 
is  most  clearly  reflected  in  the  legislation  of  Edward  IV, 
which  enumerates  a  large  number  of  cloths  of  different  sizes 
and  qualities,  made  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  From 
this  time,  legislation  affecting  the  quality  and  weight  of  cloth 
was  very  frequent;  the  various  measures  are  enumerated  in 
the  statute  of  1809  which  repealed  them  all.  At  this  date 
all  such  attempts  at  regulation  were  discredited;  English- 
men were  pushing  their  trade  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and 
it  was  not  desirable  to  define  too  rigidly  the  character  of  the 
goods  made  for  so  many  markets.  To  have  maintained  the 
old  rules  would  have  hampered  manufacturers  in  catering 
for  public  taste.  There  was  no  longer  the  same  necessity 
to  preserve  these  rules  as  a  security  for  quality,  since  a 
new  guarantee  was  afforded  by  manufacturers'  trade-marks. 
While  cloth  was  made  on  the  domestic  system,  such  marks 
could  not  become  a  well-known  guarantee,  but  under  the 
system  of  factory- production,  the  trade-marks  of  the  large 
houses   came  to    be  widely  known,   and    their    reputation 

H 


98      Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

served,  to  some  extent,  to  warrant  the  character  of  the  goods 
that  they  supplied. 

63.  There  were,  especially  during  the  Stuart  period, 
Patents  and  various  Other  instances  in  which  the  supervi- 
monopoiies.  gjon  of  a  Certain  department  was  entrusted  to 
particular  officials;  this  was  attempted  in  the  case  of  ale- 
houses, gold  lace  and  gunpowder.  A  more  common  expe- 
dient was  that  of  granting  special  privileges  for  this  purpose 
to  a  body  of  persons  thoroughly  acquainted  with,  and  actu- 
ally engaged  in,  some  trade,  who  could  effectively  bring 
home  responsibility  for  defects  to  particular  persons.  Some 
of  the  London  companies,  like  the  Tanners,  acquired  an 
extensive  right  of  search  of  this  kind,  while  others  had 
reserved  to  them  exclusive  rights  of  production.  This 
method  of  granting  exclusive  privileges  by  patent  gave  rise 
to  much  dissatisfaction  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth  and  to 
gross  abuses  under  James  I.  In  both  these  cases,  however, 
it  might  be  claimed  that  the  intentions  of  the  Crown  were 
disinterested,  but  that  the  public  were  badly  served  by  the 
patentees  or  their  agents.  Under  Charles  I  the  system 
received  a  new  development,  when  he  granted  exclusive 
patents  for  the  production  of  some  articles  of  common 
consumption.  Thus  he  hoped  to  secure  a  revenue,  similar 
to  an  excise,  by  granting  a  patent  for  soap.  It  was  care- 
fully devised  so  as  to  evade  the  terms  of  the  statute  of 
1624,  but  the  indignation,  which  it  aroused,  rendered  it 
impossible  for  Charles  to  proceed,  while  it  brought  the 
whole  of  this  system  of  national  regulation  into  discredit. 

64.  National  regulation  had,  however,  served  a  useful 

purpose  in  various  ways.     English  kings  were, 

Alien  work-  ^       ^  ... 

men.   incor-      from  a  very  early  time,  alive  to  the  importance 
porated  Com-     q£  trying  to  plant  new  industries  within  the 

panies.  .r       &  1 

realm.     It   was   under    the    shelter   of   royal 


VI.]  Industrial  Life.  99 

protection  that  the  Dutch  Bay  makers  established  their 
industry  at  Colchester,  and  that  the  Walloons  carried  out 
their  careful  system  of  trade  regulation  at  Norwich.  The 
benefit,  which  accrued  to  the  nation  from  these  new  trades, 
was  undoubted;  but  it  was  not  readily  recognised  in  the 
localities  affected,  and  Crown  patents  and  protection  were 
necessary  to  give  a  proper  footing  to  the  new-comers.  In 
subsequent  times  exclusive  privileges  in  a  calling  were 
occasionally  conferred  on  individuals  by  act  of  Parliament, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Kidderminster  Carpet  weavers  and 
the  Sheffield  Cutlers.  It  is  noticeable  that  the  companies, 
specified  by  Adam  Smith  as  chiefly  to  be  deprecated, 
were  bodies  of  this  type.  Though  thus  used  to  plant  new 
industries,  it  appears  that  the  same  system  of  trade  regula- 
tion by  charter  from  the  Crown  was  occasionally  used  to 
shelter  the  inhabitants  of  certain  towns  from  the  incursion 
and  competition  of  aliens.  Exclusive  privileges  for  the 
carrying  on  of  some  industry  were  granted  by  charter  to 
local  companies,  who  could  then  exclude  the  alien  workmen 
of  that  craft.  In  some  cases  the  number  of  separate  callings 
united  in  one  exclusive  company  is  so  large  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  believe  that  there  could  have  been  good  common 
supervision  over  such  a  varied  assortment  of  wares.  In 
the  formation  of  these  exclusive  companies  in  Newcastle, 
Carlisle,  and  London,  and  in  their  attempted  formation  at 
Hull,  we  may  perhaps  feel  that  the  regulation  of  industry 
was  a  mere  excuse.  The  maintenance  of  exclusive  rights 
was,  very  probably,  the  real  object,  which  townsmen  had 
in  view  in  procuring  the  expensive  privilege  of  a  royal 
charter.  But  whatever  their  precise  object  may  have  been, 
the  accounts  of  the  rapid  formation  of  these  industrial 
companies  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  prove 
that  national  authority  not  only  took  the  place  of  the  towns 


lOO     Out  lines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

in  commercial  regulation,  but  that  it  also  completely  super- 
seded merely  municipal  organisations  for  the  regulation  of 
industry. 

65.     These    various    measures    may    be    regarded    as 
methods  for  regulating   craftsmen,   but  they 

Protection.  ,,    .  ,  °  °  ,.  '  , 

were  all  intended  to  be  expedients  for  foster- 
ing native  industry.  The  policy  of  protection  in  some 
form  or  other  was  very  old;  there  are  signs  of  it  in  the 
cloth  trade  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  and 
it  developed  very  rapidly  in  many  employments  under  the 
Yorkists  and  the  Tudors.  In  some  of  its  phases  it  is  hardly 
to  be  distinguished  from  the  jealousy  of  alien  workmen, 
to  which  allusion  has  been  already  made;  but  in  the 
seventeenth  century  it  was  deliberately  pursued  on  care- 
fully reasoned,  if  mistaken  grounds.  Every  effort  was  made 
to  plant  new  industries,  so  as  to  render  England,  as  far  as 
possible,  independent  of  foreign  nations  for  her  supplies. 
As  this  matter  is  dealt  with  more  fully  below  (§  87)  it 
may  suffice  to  indicate  here  that  if  we  bought  few  manu- 
factured goods  from  foreigners,  and  had  much  to  sell 
them,  they  would  be  forced  to  pay  us  in  bullion  and  thus 
to  augment  our  treasure.  Such  was  the  argument,  and 
even  when  its  unsoundness  was  becoming  apparent  to  far- 
seeing  men,  it  yet  served  to  make  men  eager  to  plant  new 
industries,  to  import  materials  cheap,  to  open  up  markets 
for  our  surplus  wares,  and  in  every  way  to  encourage  native 
industry.  The  doctrine  that  labour  is  the  source  of  all 
wealth  gave  additional  force  to  the  desire  to  provide  em- 
ployment for  hands  at  home,  and  to  incur  no  unnecessary 
expense  in  purchasing  the  results  of  foreign  labour.  It  was 
only  after  the  time  of  Adam  Smith,  when  international  eco- 
nomic jealousy  had  become  less  keen,  that  it  was  possible 
for  the  ordinary  politician  to  regard  different  nations  as  cq- 


VI.]  Industrial  Life.  loi 

operating  for  the  common  advantage,  rather  than  as  un- 
scrupulous traders  who  were  always  striving  to  gain  at  each 
other's  expense. 

66.  The  general  result  of  the  tendencies  described  in 
the  foregoing  paragraphs  may,  perhaps,  be  e^^^^^j^ 
most  clearly  indicated  by  noting  how  great  freedom  for 
a  change  was  gradually  brought  about  in  the  >"«J'viduais. 
condition  of  the  individual.  He  gained  freedom  in  many 
ways  —  freedom  of  movement,  freedom  of  employment  and 
freedom  to  associate.  In  the  earlier  Middle  Ages,  when 
local  authority  was  a  leading  influence  in  economic  affairs, 
freedom  of  movement  was  impossible  for  the  industrial 
classes.  In  the  rural  districts  the  peasant  was  astrickd  \q 
the  manorial  estate  (p.  34),  and  could  not  attempt  to  better 
his  condition  by  seeking  for  work  elsewhere.  So  too  in  the 
towns.  The  craftsman  had  his  privileged  position  in  the 
particular  community  of  which  he  was  free,  and  would  not, 
generally  speaking,  desire  to  effect  any  change.  In  some 
ways  Parliamentary  authority  was  used  to  bolster  up  these 
restrictions  when  they  were  beginning  to  break  down.  Under 
the  Lancastrians,  attempts  were  made  to  prevent  the  rural 
population  from  migrating  to  the  towns,  while  the  Tudors 
aimed  at  hindering  artisans  from  forsaking  the  impover- 
ished places  in  which  they  dwelt.  But,  on  the  whole, 
national  regulation  of  the  labourer's  position  by  the  Statutes 
of  Labourers  (i 350-1),  and  the  more  general  administration 
of  the  law  by  Justices  of  the  Peace  tended  to  bring  about 
the  recognition  of  a  class  of  free  agricultural  labourers  who 
worked  for  wages,  and  who  were  not  hindered  from  moving 
about  in  search  of  employment.  In  the  time  of  Charles  II 
a  system  of  astriction  was  re-introduced  in  connexion  with 
the  parochial  administration  of  poor  relief;  the  manner  in 
which  this  Act  of  Settlement  (1662)   interfered  with  the 


I02     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

fluidity  of  labour  has  been  remarked  upon  above  (p.  92). 
Here  it  may  suffice  to  say  that  the  evil  was  soon  recognised, 
and  that  attempts  were  made  to  rectify  it.  In  all  probability 
these  had  comparatively  little  result  till  the  whole  system 
was  reorganised  in  1834,  and  an  effective  central  control 
was  instituted. 

67.  Freedom  of  movement  within  the  realm  was  not 
Freedom  to  easily  sccuredj  freedom  to  leave  the  realm 
emigrate.  ^,^:^  ^  boon  which  was  still  longer  delayed. 

It  was  not  to  the  interest  of  the  country  that  Englishmen 
should  go  abroad,  since  the  Crown  would,  in  that  case,  be 
unable  to  rely  upon  their  services  for  the  defence  of  the 
realm.  When  England  had  attained  an  industrial  repu- 
tation it  was  considered  even  less  desirable  than  heretofore 
that  Englishmen  should  emigrate  and  plant  our  industries 
in  foreign  countries  or  even  in  our  own  colonies.  Only 
under  exceptional  circumstances  did  bands  of  colonists 
obtain  Royal  or  Parliamentary  leave  to  emigrate  to  Ireland 
or  to  America  for  the  purpose  of  settling  a  plantation  or  of 
founding  a  colony.  There  was,  however,  no  scruple  in  get- 
ting rid  of  unruly  elements.  The  man  who  was  guilty  of 
homicide  could  escape  the  punishment  of  his  crime  by  ab- 
juring the  realm.  Disbanded  soldiers  and  other  vagrants 
appear  to  have  been  shipped  to  the  New  World  in  consider- 
able numbers.  Still  it  was  not  until  1824  that  restrictions 
on  emigration  were  abolished;  before  that  date  permission 
to  emigrate  had  only  been  accorded  as  a  special  favour,  ex- 
cept in  cases  where  it  was  enforced  as  the  penalty  of  mis- 
conduct. In  the  early  part  of  the  present  century  public 
opinion  underwent  a  great  change  through  the  influence  of 
Mr.  E.  G.  Wakefield,  who  had  studied  the  subject  of  colonial 
development  with  much  care,  and  who  carried  on  an  agita- 
tion in  favour  of  granting  this  liberty  to  all  subjects. 


VI.]  Industrial  Life.  103 

68.     Along  with  increased   freedom  of  movement  we 
may    also  notice   increased   freedom    in   the     -c     a 

-'  rreedom 

choice  of  employment.  Under  the  manorial  to  change 
system  this  was  not  possible  for  the  great  employment, 
mass  of  the  people,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  legislature 
intervened  to  prevent  the  rural  population  from  taking  up 
other  employments  than  agriculture.  Elizabeth's  Statute  of 
Apprentices  did  something  to  perpetuate  this  restriction. 
But  it  also  imposed  a  new  difficulty,  throughout  the  country 
generally,  in  preventing  a  change  of  trade  by  artisans.  No 
one  was  allowed  to  work  at  a  craft  to  which  he  had  not  served 
a  seven  years'  apprenticeship,  and  this  rendered  it  practi- 
cally impossible  for  any  one  to  change  his  occupation.  In 
the  eighteenth  century,  when  England  was  supplying  foreign 
markets  with  goods,  and  the  prosperity  of  different  trades 
depended  on  variations  in  foreign  demand,  it  was  difficult 
to  make  the  readjustment  necessary  to  suit  new  conditions; 
for  this  restriction  on  change  of  trade  combined  with  the  law 
of  settlement  to  prevent  workmen  from  leaving  a  district 
where  industry  was  declining.  According  to  Defoe  the  cloth 
trade  in  Essex  had  diminished,  and  some  villages,  such  as 
Bocking  and  Braintree,  afforded  instances  of  an  evil  which 
became  more  marked  as  the  eighteenth  century  advanced. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  said  that,  apart  from  the 
incidental  effect  of  the  Poor  Law,  the  Act  of  Elizabeth 
gave  increased  freedom  to  the  skilled  artisan  by  fixing  one 
standard  of  training  and  skill  for  the  whole  realm.  It 
gave  each  skilled  craftsman  a  better  opportunity  of  pur- 
suing his  calling  in  any  place  which  he  preferred,  instead  of 
restricting  him  to  work  in  that  town  of  which  he  had,  by 
serving  his  apprenticeship,  become  free. 

The  case  of   London  presents  many  points  of  special 
interest.     It  was  exempted  from  the  operation  of  the  Eliza- 


104     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

bethan  Act,  and  continued  its  own  system  of  apprenticeship. 
Tlie  custom  of  the  City  appears  to  have  permitted  a  remark- 
able liberty  in  the  change  of  occupation.  Those  who  had 
served  a  seven  years'  apprenticeship  claimed  the  liberty  to 
practise  a  trade  other  than  that  to  which  they  had  been 
apprenticed.  This  liberal  custom  held  its  own,  but  not  with- 
out a  struggle.  In  the  time  of  Richard  II  an  effort  was  made 
to  insist  that  every  citizen  should  choose  one  calling  by  which 
he  would  abide,  and  that  he  should  not  endeavour  to  practise 
more  than  one,  even  if  he  was  free  of  more  than  one  company. 
In  the  time  of  Elizabeth  a  serious  contest  arose.  There  was 
one  party  which  desired  to  impose  a  restriction  similar  to 
that  in  the  Elizabethan  Act,  and  another  which  desired  to 
obtain  Parliamentary  confirmation  for  liberty  of  change. 
Neither  could  have  their  way,  but  in  the  long  run  the  old 
custom  of  freedom  of  change  was  able  to  assert  itself.  It 
appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  elements  which  gradually 
brought  about  a  severance  between  the  various  companies 
and  the  actual  crafts  with  which  they  were  nominally  con- 
nected. The  liberty,  thus  reasserted  in  London,  was  only 
secured  in  the  country  at  large  by  the  repeal  of  the  appren- 
ticeship clauses  of  the  Elizabethan  Act  in  1814. 

69.  Unauthorised  trade  associations  have  been  viewed 
Freedom  to  ^^i^h  uiuch  Suspicion  from  early  times,  and  it 
associate.  jg  only  recently  that  freedom  to  combine  for 

trade  purposes  has  been  accorded.  That  there  were  many 
advantages  in  combination  was  recognised  from  early  times, 
and  authorised  associations  were  formed  both  by  the  Crown, 
by  municipal  authorities,  by  manorial  lords,  and  by  Parlia- 
ment. But  the  unauthorised  association  of  irresponsible 
persons  was  viewed  very  differently.  They  were  at  least 
under  the  suspicion  of  being  a  ring,  formed  to  engross  and 
enhance  the  price  of  some  commodity,  in  a  way  which  was 


VI.]  Industrial  Life.  105 

detrimental  to  the  consumer.  Every  attempt  on  the  part  of 
a  section  of  the  community  to  get  gain  at  the  public  expense 
was  strongly  condemned.  Even  authorised  associations, 
such  as  the  craft-gilds  under  Henry  VI  or  the  patentees  under 
James  I,  might  be  guilty  of  misusing  their  powers.  But 
unauthorised  association  laid  the  members  open  at  least  to 
the  suspicion  of  criminal  intent,  and  Henry  H  imposed 
heavy  fines  on  the  adulterine  gilds  of  his  time.  The  possi- 
bility of  unfair  combinations  among  dealers  was  kept  in 
view  all  through  the  Middle  Ages,  and  there  was  a  cog- 
nate feeling  about  combinations  of  labourers,  since  wages 
were  the  chief  element  in  price;  the  demand  for  higher 
wages  seemed  but  little  removed  from  a  conspiracy  to  raise 
prices  for  the  benefit  of  individuals,  but  at  the  public  ex- 
pense. This  feeling  gave  rise  to  the  Statutes  of  Labourers 
(1350-1)  under  Edward  IH  and  to  various  subsequent  mea- 
sures, which  limited  the  rates  of  wages.  In  the  time  of 
Edward  VI  a  combination  law  was  passed  (1548),  which 
seems  to  condemn  much  that  had  been  commonly  done  by 
the  old  gilds.  But  it  was  not  until  the  eighteenth  century 
that  the  matter  assumed  much  importance.  Early  in  that 
century  the  masters  in  certain  trades  were  suffered  to  com- 
bine for  certain  specific  objects,  such  as  that  of  prosecuting 
fraudulent  workmen.  Combinations  among  workmen  were 
not  unknown.  They  are  mentioned  by  Adam  Smith.  But 
their  history  and  objects  remain  obscure  until  1800,  when  a 
measure  was  passed  which  gave  the  whole  question  a  new 
prominence.  The  government  of  the  country  was  suffer- 
ing from  a  panic  about  seditious  associations.  Debating 
societies  and  freemasons'  lodges  were  looked  upon  with 
grave  suspicion,  as  possible  cloaks  for  treasonable  assem- 
blies, and  a  Government  measure  was  hurried  through  the 
Commons,   which  treated   all   associations   of   workmen  as 


lo6     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

criminal  bodies.  The  economic  conditions  of  the  times 
rendered  it  specially  desirable  that  workmen  should  be  in  a 
position  to  combine  to  drive  a  bargain  with  their  employers. 
The  Act  of  1800  compelled  them  to  keep  such  combinations 
secret,  and  gave  them  the  character  of  the  devices  of  des- 
perate men.  The  occasional  instances  of  prosecution  for 
belonging  to  such  associations  gave  rise  to  immense  bitter- 
ness, and  the  injustice  was  so  patent  that  in  1825  the  ob- 
noxious measure  was  repealed.  It  had,  however,  wrought 
infinite  mischief  while  it  lasted,  and  its  repeal  was  under- 
taken with  some  hesitation.  The  economists  of  the  day  had 
a  decided  opinion  that  unions  were  powerless  to  effect  any 
real  improvement  in  the  position  of  the  worker,  and  while 
they  were  in  favour  of  removing  the  criminal  character  of 
such  associations,  they  were  wholly  averse  to  encouraging 
the  principle  of  combination.  Events  have  since  seemed 
to  falsify  the  calculations  of  the  time.  With  the  power  of 
combination  workmen  have  succeeded  in  securing  improved 
conditions,  and  the  existence  of  unions  is  now  recognised 
in  many  trades  as  a  convenient  means  for  making  arrange- 
ments between  employers  and  employed.  The  precise 
objects  for  which  combination  is  allowable,  as  well  as  the 
possible  means  of  enforcing  the  policy  of  a  combination, 
have  given  rise  to  much  discussion  and  to  occasional  legis- 
lation. But  since  1825  the  existence  of  unions  among 
labourers  has  been  permitted  to  an  extent  which  was  never 
possible  in  older  times. 

70.     The  preceding  sections  have  brought  out  a  definite 
line  of  progress  in  favour  of  economic  freedom 

Laissez  faire  i       o 

and  phiian-       on  the  part  of  the  individual.     This  movement 

thropic  legis-    attained  its  greatest  development  during  the 

first  half  of  the  present  century,   when  the 

principles  of  laissez  faire  were  deliberately  applied  to  all 


VI.]  Industrial  Life.  107 

the  institutions  of  the  country.  Since  the  middle  of  the 
century,  however,  there  have  been  signs  of  a  reaction  against 
this  attitude  of  opposing  regulation  of  every  kind,  and 
public  opinion  has  come  more  and  more  to  favour  the 
interference  of  the  State  in  matters  which  were  once  left  to 
individuals  entirely. 

The  first  signs  of  this  new  era  of  regulation  were  in 
connexion  with  children's  labour.  It  was  said  that  they 
were  too  young  to  fight  their  own  battles  and  that,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  they  did  not  drive  their  own  bargains.  On 
this  account  men  like  Sir  Robert  Peel,  who  were  uncompro- 
mising advocates  of  laissezfaire  with  respect  to  adults,  were 
eagerly  engaged  in  promoting  measures  for  the  protection 
of  children.  The  whole  of  the  Factory  legislation  of  1802 
and  1833  rested  on  the  supposition  that  children  were  not 
free  agents,  and  that  it  was  a  matter  of  public  interest  to 
secure  that  they  should  not  be  overworked,  so  that  the  rising 
generation  should  be  able-bodied  and  effective  citizens. 
There  was  a  direct  object  of  national  importance  in  view, 
and  the  earlier  measures,  at  all  events,  were  merely  con- 
cerned with  the  labour  of  children.  Within  these  limits 
State  interference  is  readily  accepted  as  advisable  by  most 
persons  in  the  present  day.  Whether  it  is  advisable  to  do 
more  than  this  may  perhaps  be  doubtful,  and  the  general 
tone  of  feeling  has  hitherto  been  that  of  leaving  it  to  adults, 
so  far  as  may  be,  to  drive  their  own  bargains  and  secure  for 
themselves  the  conditions  which  are  advisable. 

The  first  and  most  definite  departure  from  this  principle 
of  freedom  for  adults  has  been  in  the  case  of  mines,  where 
the  Government  has,  by  regulation  and  inspection,  insisted 
upon  the  use  of  precautions  which  would  not  have  been  so 
readily  introduced,  had  it  not  been  for  outside  pressure. 
The  very  risks  of  the  miner's  life  may  sometimes  render 


Io8     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

him  reckless  and  inclined  to  disparage  the  safeguards  which 
are  recommended  on  scientific  grounds.  In  cases  of  this 
sort  a  public  authority  may  be  more  far-seeing  and  careful 
than  any  of  those  whose  interests  are  directly  concerned, 
and  it  may  be  possible  to  give  greater  security  for  life  and 
limb  by  Act  of  Parliament.  A  very  great  deal  of  the 
regulation  incorporated  in  more  recent  Factory  and  Work- 
shop Acts  is  of  the  same  character,  while  the  general 
approval  with  which  they  meet,  and  the  frequent  demand 
that  they  should  be  further  extended,  mark  how  far  public 
opinion  has  veered  from  the  laissez  faire  principles. 

71.     Despite  this  mass  of  legislation,  however,  there 
Trade  is  Still  a  tendency  in  some  quarters  to  speak 

Unions.  qJ  j^-  as  exceptional,  to  assert  the. old  laissez 
faire  principles,  and  to  argue  that  it  is  best  to  leave  adults 
to  fight  their  own  battles  and  secure  advantages  for  them- 
selves. But  here  the  difficulty  arises  that,  isolated  and 
alone,  the  individual  artisan  has  but  little  real  economic 
freedom.  His  comparative  poverty  may  render  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  stand  out  for  a  bargain,  and  the  dif^- 
culty  of  moving  his  home  limits  the  field  within  which  he 
can  seek  work.  The  fluidity  of  labour  is  much  less  than 
economists  sometimes  seem  to  assume;  and  on  this  ground 
the  labourer  may  fairly  contend  that  effective  economic  free- 
dom can  only  be  secured  to  his  class  by  securing  him  an 
effective  right  to  combine. 

This  was  strenuously  denied  by  the  laissez  faire  econo- 
mists at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  During  the  period 
before  1825,  when  the  unions  were  treated  as  criminal 
bodies,  they  were  forced  to  maintain  their  position  by 
secret  and  sometimes  by  violent  methods,  and  the  legisla- 
ture has  always  been  inclined  to  protect  the  individual  who 
is  satisfied  with  his  independent  position  from  those  who 


VI.]  Coninicrcial  Devclopvicnt.  109 

wish  to  induce  or  to  force  him  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  a 
trade  combination.  The  State,  in  admitting  liberty  to  com- 
bine, has  been  anxious  to  maintain,  on  behalf  of  other 
workmen,  the  liberty  not  to  combine.  It  has  been  a  diffi- 
cult problem  to  hold  the  balance  evenly  between  the  two. 
Wherever  the  unions  have  attained  such  a  position  as  to  be 
really  effective  economic  forces,  they  have  been  able  to 
exercise  a  dominating  influence  on  the  conditions  of  the 
trade;  and  the  story  of  their  early  struggles  and  of  the 
gradual  growth  of  their  organisation  is  one  of  supreme  in- 
terest. But  it  is  not  clear  that  their  policy  has  been  wiser, 
or  that  it  has  been  enforced  with  less  friction  and  suffering 
than  would  have  been  the  case,  if  serious  efforts  had  been 
made  by  public  authority  to  continue  to  regulate  the  con- 
ditions of  labour  and  terms  of  employment  in  a  fashion 
similar  to  that  attempted  in  the  Elizabethan  labour  code. 

///.      Commercial  Development. 

72.     It  has  been  pointed  out  above  that  national  regu- 
lation of  industrial  life  gradually  superseded   Municipal 
that  which  had  been  undertaken  in  early  times   and  national 
by  local  authorities.     But  this  is  much  less  true   ■■^e^"'^^'°"- 
of  commercial  affairs.     Our  shipping  and  commerce  were 
so  little  developed  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries 
that  the  institutions  for  fostering  and  developing  them  had 
to  be  almost  entirely  created  by  the  Crown  or  by  Parliament. 
To  some  extent,  indeed,  the  new  system  was  grafted  on  to 
the  practice  and  custom  which  had  prevailed  in  municipal 
commerce,  and  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries 
we  see  the  points  of  transition  most  clearly. 

Thus  in  dealing  with  internal  commerce  and  the  alien 
merchants  who  visited  English  marts,  the  State  was  at  first 


no    Outlines  of  E?iglish  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

content  to  enforce,  with  additional  authority,  the  old  muni- 
cipal arrangements.  The  Statute  of  Acton  Burnell  (1283) 
at  most  extended  to  new  centres  a  system  of  trading  security 
for  the  recovery  of  debts  which  was  already  farniliar  in  other 
localities.  But  in  later  commercial  legislation  there  are 
fewer  local  limitations,  and  the  facilities  for  trade,  which 
were  organised  in  the  fourteenth  century,  seem  to  have 
been  devised  with  reference  to  all  portions  of  the  realm. 
The  organisation  of  a  great  national  institution  like  the 
merchants  of  the  Staple  must  have  told  against  the  status 
and  importance  of  local  mercantile  communities. 

The  nation  could  also  do  much  for  the  protection  of  the 
person  and  property  of  the  merchant,  which  lay  beyond  the 
cognisance  of  any  single  city.  Matters  of  local  police 
the  towns  had  attended  to,  but  the  security  of  travellers  on 
the  roads  could  only  be  undertaken  by  the  king  .or  by  Parlia- 
ment, In  the  time  of  Edward  I  we  see  that  the  importance 
of  affording  to  merchants  immunity  from  attack  on  the  king's 
highway  was  clearly  recognised,  and  serious  efforts  were 
made  to  secure  it  in  the  Statute  of  Winchester  (1285). 

73.  During  the  fourteenth  century  Englishmen  were 
beginning  to  take  some  part  in  foreign  trade, 
the^el"  ^  °  ^'^'^  ^^^^  ^^^  departure  brought  to  light  a 
new  series  of  responsibilities,  which  the  king 
and  Parliament  were  forced  to  undertake.  The  effort  to 
put  down  piracy  was  partly  intended  to  preserve  the  coasts 
from  attack,  but  it  also  served  to  give  immunity  to  mer- 
chant vessels  on  the  seas.  When  Edward  III  claimed  the 
sovereignty  of  the  sea,  he  became  bound  in  honour  to 
maintain  the  king's  peace  on  the  sea  as  well  as  on  the 
shore.  The  duty  was,  indeed,  inefficiently  done;  merchant 
vessels  which  paid  for  a  convoy  did  not  always  secure  an 
effective  escort.     When  the  armaments  of  Edward  III  and 


VI.]  Commercial  Development.  Ill 

Henry  V  were  scouring  the  Channel  merchant  shipping 
may  have  been  fairly  well  protected;  but  in  the  time  of 
Henry  VI  national  energies  were  severely  strained,  and  no 
sufficient  pains  were  taken  to  render  the  seas  secure  for 
traders.  Piracy  assumed  frightful  proportions;  organised 
fleets  like  those  of  the  Victual  Brothers  and  the  Rovers 
of  the  Sea  destroyed  our  shipping  and  attacked  our  coasts. 
Privateering  was  not  discouraged,  and  the  commercial 
jealousies  of  Englishmen  and  Hansards  gave  rise  to  oc- 
casional quarrels  and  to  bitter  reprisals.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century  a  series  of  treaties  rendered  trade 
more  secure,  and  the  efforts  of  different  commercial  com- 
munities put  down  the  Northern  piracy,  from  which  all 
suffered  in  turn. 

74.     As  English  trade  expanded  more  widely,  it  became 
necessary  to  deal  with  the  old  difficulties  on 
a  larger  scale.     Trade  in  the  Mediterranean   treat^s!^*^'^ 
was  seriously  interfered  with  by  the  pirates  of   Trading  Com- 
Algiers  and  Morocco.     These  petty  states  be-   p^"'^^' 
came  the  resort  of  desperate  characters  of  all  nationalities, 
and  the  attempts  of  James  I  to  obtain  Spanish  co-operation 
for  the  extermination  of  the  evil  proved  a  failure.     They  did 
not  confine  their  depredations  to  merchant  shipping.     In 
1 63 1  the  town  of  Baltimore  in  the  South  of  Ireland  was 
utterly  destroyed,  and  the  surviving  inhabitants  carried  into 
slavery.     When   such   depredations  could   be  successfully 
carried  out,  there  was  at  least  some  excuse  for  Charles  I's 
demand  for  a  payment  of  ship-money  to  defend  the  realm. 
The  sailors  of   the    Commonwealth   had  some  temporary 
success,  and  the  negociations  of  Charles  II  were  not  with- 
out effect,  but  it  was  not  until  English  power  was  completely 
established    in   the  Mediterranean  that  this  mischief  was 
really  brought   to  an  end  and  that  piracy  ceased  to  be  a 


112     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

serious  danger  for  merchants  to  face  in  European  waters 
(1818). 

There  were  several  important  commercial  treaties  in 
the  time  of  Edward  IV  and  Henry  VII  which  not  only 
served  to  diminish  hostilities  on  the  high  seas,  but  also 
gave  a  footing  to  English  merchants  in  foreign  countries. 
In  some  cases  a  factory  was  secured  to  them,  where  mer- 
chants could  live  on  moderate  terms,  and  warehouse  their 
goods.  Sometimes  a  consul  or  representative  was  appointed, 
who  was  able  to  look  after  the  interests  of  any  merchant 
who  visited  the  port.  Successive  appointments  of  this 
kind  serve  as  landmarks  to  show  the  gradual  expansion  of 
English  trade,  not  only  in  the  Low  Countries  where  the 
Merchant  Adventurers  had  their  factories,  but  in  Pisa, 
Crete,  and  Smyrna,  where  consuls  were  established  in  the 
time  of  Edward  IV  and  Henry  VII.  Arrangements  of  this 
kind,  though  of  the  first  importance  for  commerce,  were 
really  political  in  character.  The  English  cities  never 
aspired  to  be  independent  states,  and  attained  neither  the 
wealth  nor  the  position  which  would  have  enabled  them 
to  procure  privileges  and  to  push  English  trade  in  these 
new  and  distant  ports. 

From  this  point  of  view  it  is  clear  that  many  of  the 
mercantile  organisations,  which  seem  at  first  sight  to  be 
merely  municipal,  were  really  national  in  character,  and 
could  only  have  been  authorised  by  national  authority. 
So  long  as  the  Mercers  confined  their  attention  to  whole- 
sale trade  in  cloth  within  the  realm,  they  might  be  satisfied 
with  the  sanction  they  received  from  the  Mayor  and  Alder- 
men, though  they  preferred  the  additional  status  conferred 
by  a  royal  charter.  But  when  some  of  the  brethren  devoted 
themselves  to  shipping  goods  abroad,  and  it  was  desirable 
that  the  trade   should  be  organised  and  put  on  a  sound 


VI.]  Commercial  DcvclopDicnt.  113 

footing,  the  Company  of  Merchant  Adventurers  was  formed 
with  powers  of  exclusive  trading  within  certain  limits,  as 
against  other  Englishmen.  And  this  could  only  be  granted 
by  national  authority.  Similarly  when  the  Grocers  concerned 
themselves  not  only  \\\X\i  garbling —  or  sifting  —  spices  and 
dealing  in  imported  goods,  but  took  to  shipping  them  from 
the  Levant,  they  were  organised  by  royal  authority  as  the 
Turkey  Company.  These  were  both  London  associations, 
but  there  were  similar  organisations  formed  by  royal  au- 
thority for  various  branches  of  foreign  trade  in  other  ports. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  specify  the  Merchant  Adventurers 
of  Exeter,  founded  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  the  Merchant 
Adventurers  of  Hull.  To  regulate  trade  within  a  city  was 
comparatively  easy,  but  to  shield  and  to  organise  English- 
men in  their  trading  with  foreign  lands  was  a  political  duty 
which  could  only  be  undertaken  by  the  highest  authority  in 
the  realm. 

75.  The  Tudor  kings  were  all  interested  in  maritime 
affairs,  and  from  their  time  onwards  we  find  ^j^g  protec- 
more  systematic  efforts  to  diminish  the  physi-  tion  of  the 
cal  risks  which  seamen  had  to  run  on  our  ^°^^  ^' 
coasts.  There  were  constant  efforts  to  improve  the  har- 
bours; while  the  Brethren  of  Trinity  House  at  Deptford 
were  especially  encouraged  to  erect  sea  marks  and  light- 
houses and  to  concern  themselves  with  the  training  of  pilots. 
A  similar  institution  with  more  restricted  powers  was 
formed  at  Hull,  and  their  united  efforts  resulted  in  greatly 
increased  safety  for  our  shipping  by  improving  the  access 
to  harbours,  by  rendering  harbours  more  secure,  and  by 
marking  out  the  course  which  it  was  wise  to  pursue,  or  the 
points  it  was  necessary  to  avoid.  Such  work  was,  in  itself, 
of  the  highest  importance;  and  it  also  serves  as  an  interest- 
ing illustration  of  the  nationalisation  of  local  institutions, 


1 14     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

when  we  see  how  an  association  of  Thames  pilots  was  taken 
up  and  employed  by  royal  authority  to  exercise  a  guardian- 
ship over  the  whole  of  our  coasts. 

76.  The  re-discovery  of  America  (p.  11)  and  the  dis- 
_,    .,  covery  of    fresh    routes   to    the   East  srave  a 

The  New  ^  o 

World  and  fresh  stimulus  to  the  ambition  of  Englishmen, 
new  routes  to     When  they  seriously  endeavoured  to  enter  into 

the  East.  _    /  _  ■' 

competition  with  foreign  nations  in  these  new 
directions,  they  went  out  under  royal  patronage  and  with 
royal  approval.  There  was,  of  course,  much  individual  en- 
terprise, as  was  shown,  for  example,  in  the  expedition  fitted 
out  by  a  Bristol  merchant  in  1480  to  seek  for  the  island  of 
Brazil.  But  a  regular  trading  expedition,  which  required 
a  valuable  cargo,  coujd  only  be  undertaken  by  the  co- 
operation of  several  merchants;  and  they  naturally  desired 
to  obtain  the  prestige  of  a  royal  introduction  in  the  distant 
countries  which  they  visited.  A  Russia  Company  was 
organised  under  Edward  VI,  which,  though  it  consisted  of 
London  merchants,  was  really  a  national  undertaking.  These 
merchants  opened  a  trade  with  Archangel,  and  before  long 
they  pushed  their  way  by  the  Russian  rivers  and  the  old 
caravan  routes  to  Persia.  This  was  the  first  attempt  made 
by  Englishmen  to  open  up  communications  with  the  East, 
and  to  obtain  a  share  in  the  profitable  trade  from  which  the 
Portuguese  derived  so  much  wealth.  The  Company's  agents 
were  provided  with  royal  letters,  written  in  Hebrew  and 
Greek,  which  it  was  thought  might  prove  intelligible  to 
Oriental  princes  and  recommend  the  subjects  of  the  king 
of  England  to  favourable  consideration. 

77.  Another  such  company  endeavoured  to  win  for 
Joint-stock  Englishmen  a  share  in  the  direct  trade  with 
and  regulated     India  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.     The  East 

India    Company   was   organised   by    London 


VI.]  Comvtcrcial  Dci'clopmcnt.  115 

merchants,  but  was  under  Court  patronage;  and  at  one 
time  the  shrewd  City  men  who  started  it  feared  lest  the 
influence  of  the  Court  should  introduce  into  their  ships 
some  gentlemen  adventurers,  who  would  be  more  likely  to 
direct  their  attention  to  fighting  than  to  trade.  Those  who 
entered  the  Company  did  not  trade  as  individuals,  but  com- 
bined to  take  shares  in  fitting  and  loading  several  ships  one 
year,  and  then  formed  a  new  subscription  for  each  subse- 
quent voyage.  The  private  trading  of  individual  merchants 
or  of  the  Company's  servants  was  sedulously  put  down,  and 
each  voyage  was  made  upon  a  joint-stock.  There  was, 
however,  an  unnecessary  complication  in  such  a  system, 
especially  when  the  charges  of  the  establishments  at  home 
and  abroad  were  considered.  In  16 12,  the  charter  of  the 
Company  was  renewed  in  a  different  form,  and  it  became  a 
joint-stock  company,  in  which  all  the  partners  had  larger  or 
smaller  shares.  Such  a  joint-stock  company,  which  traded 
as  a  single  corporation,  was  in  a  strict  sense  a  monopoly, 
since  it  had  the  exclusive  right  of  trading.  Other  companies, 
such  as  the  Russia  and  Turkey  Companies,  were  composed 
of  men  each  of  whom  traded  on  his  own  account  and  com- 
peted with  others,  while  he  recognised  some  general  regula- 
tions, which  were  thought  to  be  beneficial  to  all :  such 
traders  also  had  the  advantage  of  special  privileges  and 
conveniences  in  the  towns  where  they  carried  on  business. 
Any  English  subject  could  belong  to  these  regulated  com- 
panies upon  payment  of  a  comparatively  small  fee  for 
admission,  and  part  of  their  trade  regulation  was  intended 
to  prevent  the  richer  merchants  from  concentrating  business 
in  their  own  hands,  and  to  allow  younger  men  to  have 
their  chance.  Both  regulated  and  joint-stock  companies 
were  national  institutions  for  the  development  and  control  of 
foreign  commerce.     Both  obtained  their  powers  by  charter 


ii6     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History .    [Chap. 

from  the  Crown,  but  whereas  the  joint-stock  companies 
were  really  monopolies,  the  regulated  companies  do  not 
deserve  that  name. 

This  system  of  company-trading  was,  to  a  large  extent, 
an  English  institution,  and  did  not  develop  so  fast,  or  on 
quite  the  same  lines,  either  in  Holland  or  in  France.  There 
was  much  doubt  in  England  during  the  seventeenth  century 
as  to  whether  the  system  was  wise  or  not.  The  East  India 
Company  was  the  one  most  frequently  attacked,  but  even 
the  regulated  companies  were  severely  criticised  as  being 
injurious  to  trade.  In  1608  the  privileges  of  the  Merchant 
Adventurers  were  suspended,  and  at  a  later  date  the  Russia 
and  the  Turkey  Company  aroused  considerable  hostility  on 
the  part  of  the  interlopers,  as  those  English  merchants  were 
called  who  defied  the  exclusive  claims,  and  competed  in  the 
trade  of  the  Companies.  Under  James  I  a  special  com- 
mission on  trade  was  appointed,  and  it  was  one  of  their 
chief  duties  to  consider  the  policy  of  allowing  companies 
in  trade.  The  Commissioners  did  not  pronounce  against  it, 
and  further  attacks,  made  in  the  time  of  Cromwell,  were 
successfully  resisted.  Before  the  period  of  the  Revolution, 
however,  the  constitutional  rights  of  interlopers  to  trade 
were  upheld,  as  against  the  joint-stock  companies,  in  a  case 
which  was  brought  by  Sandys  against  the  East  India  Com- 
pany (1684).  With  the  Revolution  and  the  Bill  of  Rights, 
the  position  of  these  bodies,  which  depended  on  charters 
granted  by  the  Stuarts,  was  weakened,  and  the  rivals  of  the 
East  India  Company  seemed  likely  to  get  their  way.  The 
interloping  merchants  were  empowered  to  form  a  new  general 
or  regulated  East  India  Company,  which  seemed  likely  to 
supersede  the  old  London  or  joint-stock  company.  The 
two  entered  on  an  unseemly  and  disastrous  competition, 
but  eventually  their  competing  interests  were  reconciled, 


VI.]  CoviDicrcial  Development.  \\J 

and  the  two  bodies  were  amalgamated.  At  this  juncture 
the  principles  for  which  the  joint-stock  company  had  con- 
tended may  be  said  to  have  triumphed,  and  Parliament 
appeared  to  acknowledge  that  in  distant  trade  with  peoples 
with  whom  we  had  no  regular  diplomatic  relations,  it  was 
expedient  for  Englishmen  to  present  a  united  front. 

78.  The  later  history  of  this  great  Company,  and  the 
steps  by  which  it  was  transformed  from  a  ^he  East 
trading  body  to  a  political  power  need  not  be  India  Com- 
detailed  here.  It  continued  to  pursue  the  ^^"^" 
policy  of  corporate  trading,  with  which  it  had  started, 
but  it  did  not  prevent  its  servants  from  engaging  in 
private  trade  on  their  own  account  within  India  itself. 
The  relations  of  the  Company  with  its  servants  and  of 
the  Home  Board  with  its  officials  abroad  were  compli- 
cated and  often  unsatisfactory.  Commercial  and  political 
interests  conflicted,  and  the  common  trade  of  the  Company 
was  sometimes  said  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  private  trade  of 
the  servants.  The  wealth  of  these  servants,  when  they 
returned,  and  the  high  profits  of  the  Dutch  Company,  which 
was  managed  on  different  principles,  made  the  shareholders 
suspicious,  and  tempted  the  directors  to  gratify  them  by 
paying  extravagant  dividends.  The  Company  was  brought 
to  the  verge  of  bankruptcy  by  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  when  reconstituted  it  came  to  be  more  and 
more  political  in  character.  At  the  time  when  the  trade  to 
India  was  formally  thrown  open  (18 13),  the  shipments  of 
the  Company  had  come  to  be  very  trivial,  but  it  retained 
its  exclusive  trade  with  China  for  a  longer  period  (1833). 
Tea  was  an  article  of  common  consumption  of  which  the 
Company  had  the  monopoly  and  could  regulate  the  supply. 
It  is  in  connexion  with  this  article  that  we  see  the  last 
remains  of  the  controversy  on  the  advantages  and  disadvan- 


1 1 8      Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

tages  of  corporate  trading.  That  there  were  some  advantages 
may  be  gathered  from  the  strained  relations  with  China, 
which  immediately  followed  on  the  abrogation  of  the  trading 
monopoly  and  the  independent  efforts  of  competing  trades- 
men to  push  the  sale  of  their  wares. 

79.  In  the  present  day  when  the  British  mercantile 
^,    ^,  marine  is  so  very  large,  it  is  strange  to  recall 

The  Navy  J  i^    1  to 

and  joint-  the  fact  that  through  a  long  period  of    our 

stock  Com-        history  we  had  very  little  shipping  at  all,  and 

panies.  -^  . 

that  our  commercial  supremacy  is  of  quite 
recent  growth.  But  it  is  perhaps  more  important  to 
remember  that  our  naval  power  has  grown  along  with 
our  commerce,  and  that  owing  to  that  naval  power  our 
commerce  is  far  less  fettered  than  was  formerly  necessary. 
In  old  days  the  Government  was  quite  unable  to  protect 
the  mercantile  marine  effectively  from  the  attacks  of 
pirates,  or  to  secure  our  merchants  due  respect  in  distant 
lands.  But  now-a-days  our  naval  power  serves  to  protect 
our  commerce  everywhere,  and  to  give  our  merchants  a 
firm  footing  in  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  globe.  We 
are  dependent  on  our  navy  for  the  regularity  of  our  food 
supply.  We  are  dependent  on  it  too  for  the  protection 
of  our  commerce,  and  for  all  the  industrial  success  which 
is  bound  up  with  our  commerce. 

In  old  days,  when  adventurers  could  look  for  little 
effective  support  from  the  home  Government,  and  were 
forced  to  provide  for  their  own  defence  themselves,  there 
was  much  excuse  for  conferring  a  trading  monopoly  on 
those  who  undertook  this  difficult  position.  The  practice 
of  chartering  monopolist  companies  for  distant  trades  with 
half-civilised  peoples  did  on  the  whole  justify  itself.  But 
now  that  English  political  power  is  more  widely  and  more 
effectively  felt,  there  is  no  longer  the  same  excuse  for  con- 


VI.]  Conunercial  Development.  1 19 

ferring  a  monopoly  on  trading  companies  that  undertake 
political  risks.  Biit  even  though  English  subjects  all  over 
the  globe  can  look  to  the  Government  for  protection,  the 
recent  formation  of  the  Chartered  African  and  Borneo 
Companies  shows  that  the  old  expedient  may  be  conven- 
ient for  pioneer  work. 

But  though  these  companies  have  not  their  old  political 
character,  the  commercial  principle  on  which  they  were 
formed  still  holds  good,  and  has  been  applied  in  every  sort 
of  way.  From  very  early  times,  several  owners  might  com- 
bine to  fit  out  a  ship  and  buy  a  cargo,  when  none  of  them 
was  able,  separately,  to  risk  a  very  large  sum  in  ventures  by 
sea;  and  this  practice  received  a  new  application  when  a 
permanent  joint-stock  company,  like  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, was  formed  to  undertake  the  difficult  task  of  opening 
and  maintaining  friendly  relations  with  distant  peoples, 
whose  civilisation  was  very  different  from  our  own.  Such 
trading  connexions  could  not  be  permanently  maintained  by 
individuals  singly,  and  the  risks  of  trading  were  minimised 
for  each,  when  the  shareholders  acted  together  as  one 
body.  By  this  means  the  owner  of  a  comparatively  small 
sum  of  money  can  club  it  with  others,  so  as  to  share 
great  risks,  and,  if  he  is  successful,  earn  large  profits.  At 
all  events  this  method  of  associating  for  business  purposes 
has  been  more  and  more  adopted.  Adam  Smith  attempted 
to  discriminate  between  certain  kinds  of  business  which 
could  not  be  satisfactorily  undertaken  in  this  fashion,  but 
since  his  day  enterprises  of  every  possible  sort  have  been 
carried  out  on  a  joint  stock.  It  seems,  indeed,  that  unless 
this  form  of  conducting  business  had  been  generally  under- 
stood, the  gigantic  undertakings  of  the  present  day — such 
as  the  construction  of  railways  —  could  hardly  have  been 
accomplished;  there  would  have  been  no  capital  available. 


I20     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  Histoiy.    [Chap. 

But  every  kind  of  business  —  financial,  commercial,  agricul- 
tural, shipping,  mining,  manufacturing  —  is  now  success- 
fully conducted  on  this  basis.  Though  there  are  obvious 
disadvantages  in  the  system  —  since  the  management  may 
be  lacking  in  keen  personal  interest,  and  the  owners  of  the 
property  deficient  in  a  sense  of  personal  responsibility  for 
the  conduct  of  affairs  —  it  is  steadily  gaining  upon  private 
enterprise.  Year  after  year  we  see  private  firms  reconsti- 
tuted as  joint-stock  companies,  and  there  are  some  lines  of 
business,  such  as  banking,  from  which  the  private  firms 
have  been  almost  wholly  ousted. 

IV.     Economic  Policy. 

80.     In  the  preceding  paragraphs  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  trace  out  the  different   sides   from 

Elements  of  1   •    1       i  •  i       •   1 

power.  Ship-  which  the  State  interfered  with  and  controlled 
ping  and  trea-  the  development  of  our  industry  and  com- 
merce. But  it  is  also  worth  while  to  gather 
these  various  threads  into  one,  and  to  show  that  a  common 
purpose  underlay  all  the  efforts  at  regulation  and  control. 
This  has  been  already  indicated  in  connexion  with  the 
reign  of  Richard  II,  which  proved  such  an  important 
turning-point  (§§  47,  48);  but  the  whole  becomes  clearer 
when  it  is  looked  at  retrospectively  as  well  as  prospectively. 
The  central  authority  kept  a  firm  hand  on  all  sides  of 
economic  life,  and  it  employed  them  all  so  as  to  promote 
national  power,  and  to  render  England  stronger  relatively  to 
other  nations.  Though  there  were  strokes  of  good  fortune, 
on  which  the  mercantilists  could  not  have  counted,  and 
which  aided  their  efforts,  we  need  not  deny  them  the  credit 
of  success  in  attaining  the  object  they  had  at  heart.  In  the 
time  of  Richard  II,  England  was  a  small  power  in  Europe, 
with  no  marine  to  speak  of.     At  the  beginning  of  the  pres- 


VI.]  Economic  Policy.  121 

ent  century,  England  was  strong  enough  to  hold  her  own 
against  the  world,  and  her  fleets  guarded  a  world-wide  com- 
merce. While  the  Mercantile  System  was  in  vogue,  the 
highest  ambition  of  those  who  designed  it  was  accomplished, 
and  England  attained  to  a  position  of  immense  power  and 
prestige  among  the  nations. 

As  already  stated,  there  are  some  objects  which  may  be 
regarded  as  common  to  all  countries  that  seek  to  increase 
in  strength.  A  sufificient  food  supply  is  one  of  them;  the 
means  taken  by  England  to  attain  this  end  were  by  no 
means  common  and  have  been  sufficiently  described  above. 
But  two  other  objects  were  kept  in  the  forefront  by  the 
Mercantilists;  one  of  these  was  specially  thought  of  by 
Englishmen  —  the  increase  of  our  shipping  and  the  strength- 
ening of  our  wooden  walls.  It  was  of  obvious  importance 
in  the  case  of  an  island  realm,  and  the  efforts  to  encourage 
our  shipping  and  seamanship  ramified  out  into  all  sorts  of 
subsidiary  regulations.  Further,  the  providing  of  a  large 
treasure  of  the  precious  metals  to  meet  political  emergencies 
presented  a  difficult  problem  in  the  case  of  a  country  which 
had  no  mines;  in  attempting  to  solve  it  the  Government 
devised  expedients  which  affected  many  branches  of  enter- 
prise and  employment. 

81.  Deliberate  attempts  to  encourage  English  shipping 
are  found  as  early  as  the  time  of  Richard  II. 

The  objects 

The   policy  of    Edward   III    had  practically   and  effects  of 
discouraged    Englishmen    from    engaging    in   ^^^  ^^'''y  ^^- 

1  1      1      ■         1   •  1       1  f/-  1  1       vigation  acts. 

trade,  and  their  ships  had  suffered  so  much 
from  the  requirements  of  the  king's  military  expeditions 
that  the  English  mercantile  marine  was  almost  destroyed. 
To  remedy  this  evil,  an  Act  was  passed  in  138 1  which  in- 
sisted on  the  employment  of  English  ships,  although  in  the 
following  year  this  was  modified  into  giving  a  preference  to 


122     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

English  ships.  This  policy,  though  politically  advantageous, 
entailed  numerous  commercial  disadvantages;  even  after 
the  first  few  years  of  trial  it  appeared  that  shipowners  were 
charging  exorbitant  rates,  so  that  fewer  goods  were  imported, 
and,  consequently,  the  prices  for  imported  commodities 
ranged  higher  than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case. 
The  grievance  was  so  great  that  the  navigation  Acts  were 
not  steadily  enforced  during  the  fifteenth  century;  and  in 
the  sixteenth,  Wolsey  was  definitely  opposed  to  a  restriction, 
which,  though  it  might  eventually  increase  shipping  and 
power,  in  the  mean  time  diminished  plenty.  He  saw  that 
a  navigation  Act  would  be  likely  to  involve  a  reduction  in 
the  quantity  of  wine  imported :  and  a  double  mischief 
would  ensue  —  to  the  king  from  the  reduction  of  the  cus- 
toms on  wine,  and  to  the  consumer  from  a  diminished 
supply  and  a  consequent  increase  of  the  price.  Thomas 
Cromwell  was  in  favour  of  a  strict  navigation  policy,  but  the 
old  difficulties  recurred  under  Edward  VI;  and  the  measure 
which  was  passed  under  Elizabeth  was  discriminating  in 
character  and  aimed  at  the  encouragement  of  English  ship- 
ping, while  it  minimised  the  evils  of  restriction. 

82.     The    next   great  change  was  in  the   time  of  the 
Effects  on  Commonwealth,  when  the  commerce  of  Eng- 

Hoiiand,  Scot-   \^xid  had  Considerably  increased,  and  when  a 

land,  Ireland,  ... 

and  the  Colo-  Stringent  policy  was  re-enforced,  not  so  much 
nies.  for  the  sake  of  fostering  English  shipping,  as 

in  the  hope  of  striking  a  blow  at  the  carrying  trade  of  the 
Dutch,  and  bringing  the  American  and  West  Indian  colonies 
into  closer  commercial  relations  with  the  mother  country. 
The  immediate  object  of  the  measure,  as  passed  in  165 1 
and  re-enacted  in  1660,  was  fully  attained,  but  at  considera- 
ble expense,  not  so  much  to  English  consumers  as  to  English 
colonists.      They  were  restricted  in  their  trade  with  one 


VI.]  Eccnoviic  Policy.  123 

another  and  with  European  countries,  and  if  the  connexion 
with  the  mother  country  became  firmer,  it  also  became 
more  galling. 

The  navigation  laws  were  merely  intended  to  encourage 
the  trade  of  England,  but  they  told  against  the  progress 
both  of  Scotland  and  of  Ireland.  The  Scotch,  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  had  supplied  the  colonial 
markets  with  a  good  deal  of  coarse  cloth  which  had  been 
exported  in  Dutch  ships.  With  the  passing  of  the  Naviga- 
tion Act  (165 1)  this  channel  of  trade  was  closed,  and  after 
the  Restoration  they  were  also  prevented  from  using  English 
ships.  The  restriction  was  thus  a  serious  blow  to  the  strug- 
gling industry  of  Scotland,  and  the  great  popularity  of  the 
Darien  scheme  was  undoubtedly  due  to  a  general  belief  that 
it  would  serve  to  give  Scotch  merchants  and  Scotch  manufac- 
turers a  footing  in  the  distant  markets,  which  had  recently 
been  closed  to  them.  The  Act  of  Union  ( 1 707),  by  uniting 
the  two  nations  into  one  kingdom  for  commercial  purposes, 
served  to  include  Scotland  in  the  benefits  of  the  Navi- 
gation Act. 

Ireland,  however,  continued  to  be  at  a  disadvantage 
through  the  greater  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  indeed 
until  after  the  revolt  of  the  American  colonies.  She  was 
treated  as  a  dependency,  and  was  excluded  from  direct  trade 
with  the  colonies;  Galway  in  particular  suffered  seriously 
from  this  restriction.  The  victualling  of  ships  was  a  busi- 
ness for  which  Ireland  was  specially  well  adapted,  and  in  more 
than  one  way  her  native  interests  were  sacrificed  to  those  of 
more  distant  colonies,  as  in  the  matter  of  Virginian  tobacco 
(§  go)  and  West  Indian  rum.  Commercial  disabilities  un- 
doubtedly retarded  the  development  of  Ireland,  and  served 
to  open  to  the  manufacturers  of  linen  in  Scotland  advan- 
tageous markets  which  were  closed  to  Irish  linen  (p.  137). 


124     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

It  may  thus  be  said  that  the  interests  of  consumers  in 
England  and  of  producers  in  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  the 
colonies  were  alike  sacrificed  by  the  navigation  Acts.  That 
they  had  this  effect  was  manifest  all  along;  the  only  defence, 
and  it  seemed  to  those  who  maintained  them  a  sufficient 
defence,  lay  in  the  fact  that  they  attained  their  object. 
Under  their  influence,  and  apparently  in  consequence  of 
them,  the  mercantile  marine  of  England  developed  from 
being  merely  insignificant  till  it  attained  the  supremacy  of 
the  world.  The  acquisition  and  maintenance  of  power  was 
the  end  at  which  the  framers  of  the  navigation  Acts  aimed, 
and  power  they  succeeded  in  securing.  The  marine  of 
England  decided  the  issue  of  the  struggle  between  France 
and  England  in  India  and  America.  The  mercantile 
marine  of  England  rendered  her  superior  to  all  the  military 
strength  of  Napoleon;  she  found  the  sinews  of  war  in  a 
world-wide  commerce,  which  extended  over  seas  where  none 
but  the  English  flag  was  ever  seen.  It  is  easy  to  show 
that  the  system  was  costly :  it  is  not  so  easy  to  be  sure 
that  the  cost  was  excessive,  considering  how  completely 
successful  the  policy  eventually  proved. 

83.  Closely  connected  with  this  scheme  for  the  encour- 
Subsidiary  agcmcnt  of  shipping  were  other  measures 
callings.  Fish-   affecting  (a)  the  training  of  seamen,  (/3)  the 

eries,  ship-  .,.,.,,.  t/\i 

building  and      development   of    ship-building,    and   (y)   the 
naval  stores.      providing  of  materials  and  naval  stores. 

a.  The  trade  which  did  most  to  foster  a  class  accus- 
tomed to  a  seafaring  life  was  that  of  fishing;  and  many 
curious  enactments  were  passed  under  the  Tudors  and  in 
subsequent  times  for  promoting  this  kind  of  enterprise. 
The  simplest  means  was  to  bring  about  an  increased 
demand  for  fish,  and  with  this  object  a  sumptuary  measure 
was  passed  insisting  that  a  fish  diet  should  be  used  on  two 


VI.]  Economic  Policy.  125 

days  a  week  throughout  the  year  as  well  as  during  Lent. 
Serious  attempts  appear  to  have  been  made  to  enforce  this 
measure  for  nearly  a  hundred  years.  After  it  fell  into  dis- 
use, a  new  expedient  was  tried  by  the  granting  of  bounties 
in  connexion  with  the  herring  trade.  These  gave  rise  to  a 
immense  amount  of  fraud,  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
there  was  any  equivalent  advantage;  at  the  same  time  it  is 
noticeable  that,  whether  through  this  help  or  apart  from  it, 
English  fishing  developed  more  and  more.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Dutch  fished  largely  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  of  Yarmouth,  and  with  vessels  of 
a  build  superior  to  anything  that  Englishmen  possessed. 
By  the  close  of  that  century,  the  latter  had  been  so  far  suc- 
cessful in  outrivalling  the  Dutch  on  their  own  methods  as 
to  get  the  local  herring  trade  entirely  into  their  hands. 
During  the  eighteenth  century  Englishmen  also  made  con- 
siderable progress  in  "the  pleasant  sport  of  catching  the 
whale";  while  all  through  the  long  period  from  the  dis- 
covery of  Newfoundland  to  the  present  day,  they  have  at 
least  held  their  own  in  the  recurring  contest  with  French- 
men in  the  cod  fishery. 

/?.  Englishmen  have  so  long  excelled  in  the  art  of  ship- 
building that  it  is  interesting  to  note  how  much  pains 
had  at  one  time  to  be  spent  in  fostering  this  form  of  skill. 
Henry  V  built  several  large  ships  of  war  in  imitation  of  the 
Genoese  vessels,  and  in  the  suceeding  reign  John  Taverner 
of  Hull  and  William  Canynges  of  Bristol  showed  special 
enterprise  in  similar  undertakings.  Henry  VHI  and  his 
successors  shared  this  enthusiasm,  although  they  were  badly 
provided  with  dockyards  and  arsenals;  but  some  pains 
were  taken  to  remedy  this  fault  by  creating  an  establishment 
at  Deptford  in  15 13.  The  direct  encouragement  which  was 
given  to  English  shipping  under  Elizabeth  and  in  subse- 


126     Out  lines  of  English  Inchistrial  History.    [Chap. 

quent  reigns  was,  of  course,  an  indirect  means  of  encourag- 
ing ship-building  also. 

y.  The  policy  is  still  further  illustrated  by  various 
efforts  which  were  made  to  ensure  that  the  realm  should  be 
amply  provided  with  naval  stores.  Special  pains  were 
taken  to  insist  on  the  growth  of  flax  and  hemp.  So  far  as 
maintaining  a  sufficient  home  supply  of  wood  for  ship- 
building was  concerned,  the  interests  of  the  navy  were  more 
or  less  sacrificed,  as  regards  both  England  and  Ireland,  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  iron  trade  and  the  demand  for  fuel. 
But  this  seemed  of  less  importance,  as  there  was  an  abun- 
dant supply  in  the  American  colonies.  To  some  writers  it 
appeared  as  if  the  chief  advantage  derived  by  England 
from  these  dependencies  was  due  to  the  ample  supply  of 
wood  and  tar  which  came  from  them,  since  this  country  had 
hitherto  been  dependent  on  Norway  and  Sweden  for  such 
stores.  This  was,  indeed,  a  dominant  element  in  the  scheme 
of  policy  pursued  towards  the  colonies.  They  were  restricted 
in  various  ways,  but  they  received  every  encouragement  to 
open  up  their  resources  so  as  to  supply  those  products  in 
which  England  was  deficient.  So  long  as  they  expended  their 
energies  in  this  direction  they  would  strengthen  the  mother 
country,  and  would  certainly  not  injure  her  by  successful 
competition. 

84.  To  secure  a  supply  of  treasure  was  another  great 
The  bullion-  point  of  cconomic  policy.  Without  wealth  in 
ist  policy  for  the  form  of  bullion  it  was  not  easy  to  meet  any 
sudden  emergency,  or  to  raise  and  equip  an 
army  or  a  fleet.  Treasure  was,  therefore,  an  important  ele- 
ment for  supplying  the  sinews  of  war  and  for  increasing  the 
power  of  the  realm  by  providing  the  means  of  meeting  any 
emergency.  Hence  we  find  various  measures  which  were 
intended  to  bring  a  supply  of  bullion  from  abroad  to  this 
country. 


VI.]  Economic  Policy.  127 

Such  legislative  effort  can  be  traced  back  to  the  time  of 
Richard  II,  but  no  earlier.  There  had  been  a  good  deal  of 
legislation  under  the  Edwards  concerning  the  importation 
of  coin,  but  these  were  really  mint  regulations  intended  to 
provide  a  sufficient  currency  for  the  realm  and  to  keep 
the  debased  coins  of  other  countries  out  of  circulation  in 
England.  From  the  time  of  Richard  II,  however,  we  find 
that  there  was  a  systematic  endeavour  to  accumulate  bullion 
which  might  be  hoarded  as  treasure,  and  thus  maintain  the 
power  of  the  realm.  As  England  was  a  country  in  which  there 
were  no  mines,  the  precious  metals  could  obviously  only 
be  procured  from  abroad,  and  they  were  brought  in  as  the 
result  of  trade.  To  this  end  statutes  of  employment  were 
passed,  which  required  that  those  who  came  to  buy  English 
commodities  should  pay  for  them,  or  for  a  portion  of  them, 
in  bullion.  At  the  same  time  the  export  of  bullion  from 
the  realm  was  prohibited,  so  that  while  this  bullionist  policy 
aimed  at  forcing  merchants  to  bring  gold  and  silver  to  this 
country,  it  also  prevented  them  from  taking  it  out.  This 
system  was  followed  in  many  lands,  and  was  specially 
favoured  in  Spain  by  Charles  V  and  his  successors.  It  was 
not,  however,  very  easy  to  enforce,  as  the  precious  metals, 
having  great  value  in  small  bulk,  are  easily  smuggled;  and 
early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  it  gave  place  to  what  is 
more  properly  spoken  of  as  a  mercantile  theory.  Indications 
of  this  are  found  as  early  as  the  time  of  Richard  II,  and  it 
was  well  understood  in  the  days  of  Edward  VI.  But  it  did 
not  come  to  the  front  until  the  time  of  James  I,  when  it  was 
put  forward  by  the  members  of  the  East  India  Company  as 
a  justification  of  commercial  transactions  which  the  bul- 
lionists  condemned. 

85.  The  mercantilists,  like  the  bullionists,  aimed  at 
increasing  the  treasure  in  the  country,   but  they  adopted 


128     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

entirely  different  measures  to  this  end.     Instead  of  trying 
to  lesrislate  directly  for  the  precious  metals, 

The  Mercan-  &  /  r  J 

tiiists  and  the     they  held  that,  by  legislating  for  the  trade  in 
East  India         commodities,  they  could  induce  conditions  in 

Company.  ,   •    i         i  •  i  i  i  ,i 

which  the  precious  metals  would  naturally 
flow  to  this  country.  If  we  sold  a  large  quantity  of  goods 
to  other  lands  and  bought  very  few  of  their  products,  they 
would  be  bound  to  pay  us  a  balance  in  bullion.  Hence  it 
appeared  that  by  using  expedients  to  limit  the  quantity  and 
value  of  our  imports,  and  to  increase  the  quantity  and  value 
of  our  exports,  there  would  be  a  balance  of  trade  which 
could  only  be  defrayed  by  payments  in  bullion  from  abroad. 
As  thus  recast,  the  effort  to  procure  treasure  ramified  out  in 
many  directions,  but  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
fundamental  reason  for  desiring  bullion  was  the  political 
one  of  acquiring  treasure.  Those  who  were  most  decided 
about  the  advantage  of  procuring  treasure,  were  equally 
clear  that  gold  and  silver  were  only  valuable  by  convention 
and  not  in  their  own  nature;  and  in  so  far  as  mere  eco- 
nomics were  concerned,  there  was  no  tendency  to  regard 
bullion  as  a  specially  important  form  of  riches  or  wealth. 

The  practical  question  over  which  these  two  schools  of 
economists,  the  bullionists  and  mercantilists,  came  into 
collision  was  of  vital  importance  to  the  East  India  Company. 
The  direct  trade  with  India  could  not  be  carried  on  without 
the  export  of  bullion.  There  was  no  market  in  India  for 
the  cloth  or  other  bulky  products  of  this  country,  and  silver 
had  to  be  exported  in  order  to  procure  the  silks  and  spices 
of  the  East;  the  bullionists  protested  against  permitting 
any  export  of  bullion  at  all.  But  the  champions  of  the  East 
India  Company  alleged  that,  by  sending  some  silver  abroad, 
they  were  able  to  drive  a  trade  which  enabled  them  even- 
tually to  procure  much  more  silver  on  the  whole.     They 


VI.]  EconoDiic  Policy.  129 

argued  that  the  silver  sent  to  India  was  like  the  seed  which 
seemed  to  be  wasted,  but  which  yielded  a  plentiful  harvest. 
They  held  that  if  London  were  a  depot  for  East  India 
goods,  we  could  procure  silver  by  selling  them  to  other 
European  countries.  Hence  they  argued  that  it  was  unne- 
cessary to  impose  restrictions  on  the  export  of  bullion,  so 
long  as  an  effort  was  made  to  ensure  that  the  commodities 
exported  by  the  country  as  a  whole  should  exceed  the  value 
of  the  commodities  imported.  Gold  and  silver  they  argued 
must  come  in  somehow,  if  the  trade  in  commodities  were 
carried  on  in  this  fashion. 

^6.     The  triumph  of  this  mercantile  policy  gave  a  new 
importance    to   the    efforts   which    had   been 

'■  .  The  general 

made,  from  time  to  time,  to  plant  new  Indus-  and  particular 
tries  in  this  country.  In  so  far  as  we  could  balance  of 
manufacture  at  home  any  goods  which  had 
hitherto  been  procured  from  abroad,  the  amount  and  value 
of  our  imports  would  be  diminished  with  a  corresponding 
improvement  in  the  balance  of  trade.  It  was  on  this 
account  that  attempts  were  made  to  foster  the  silk  trade 
and  to  discourage  the  consumption  of  any  foreign  commo- 
dities for  which  bullion  was  habitually  paid.  Authorities 
began  to  discriminate  between  the  relative  advantages  of 
trade  with  different  nations,  and  to  note  the  particular 
balance  with  each  country,  as  well  as  to  sum  up  the 
general  balance  with  the  world  as  a  whole.  The  inter- 
ramifications  of  trade  are  so  many  that  this  attempted 
discrimination  between  particular  trades  was  probably  quite 
illusory,  as  was  seen  by  Dr.  Barbon  in  the  time  of  William 
III.  But  it  took  a  firm  hold  on  the  public  mind  and  gave 
rise  to  an  immense  amount  of  argument  and  to  some  legis- 
lation. There  was  a  strong  desire  to  cut  down  intercourse 
with  France  to  a  minimum,  as  the  particular  balance  seemed 

K 


130    Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

to  be  against  England  in  that  trade.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
seemed  desirable  to  encourage  intercourse  with  Portugal,  as 
the  particular  balance  with  that  country  was  in  our  favour. 
In  this  fashion  it  came  to  be  considered  patriotic  to  drink 
port  rather  than  burgundy  or  claret.  And  the  tastes  of 
consumers  were  treated  with  scant  respect  in  consideration 
of  the  political  advantages  of  fostering  such  a  trade  as  tended 
not  to  diminish,  but  to  increase,  our  treasure. 

87.  Besides  the  legislation  which  aimed  at  attaining  one 
The  balance  or  Other  of  thesc  various  elements  of  power, 
su^poted^^  many  measures  were  passed  with  a  view  to 
criterion  of  fostcr  the  general  prosperity  of  the  country, 
prosperuVof  ^^^  *^^^'^  ^°  §^^^  ^  "  iwcidi  "  from  which  revenue 
a  nation.  might  be  drawn  for  the  defence  of  the  realm. 

It  was  from  this  cause  that  the  regulations  of  the  mercantile 
system  had  so  much  vitality;  but  for  this  clear  recognition 
of  industry  as  a  source  of  national  wealth  the  mercantile  re- 
strictions might  have  died  out  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  From  the  time  of  the  foundation  of  the  Bank  of 
England,  when  public  borrowing  came  to  be  habitually  used 
for  meeting  emergencies,  the  political  importance  of  treasure 
declined,  and  thus  the  whole  of  the  economic  system  which 
rested  upon  it  might  have  been  expected  to  collapse.  But 
it  was  too  firmly  founded  to  be  easily  broken  up.  The 
balance  of  trade  was  coming  to  be  regarded  in  a  new 
aspect,  as  a  criterion  of  the  industrial  prosperity  of  the 
country  and  of  its  growing  ability  to  bear  the  burden  of 
taxation.  If  the  balance  of  trade  with  Portugal  was  in 
our  favour,  it  was  thought  that  by  our  intercourse  with  that 
country  our  native  industry  received  a  stimulus.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  had  constantly  to  pay  a  debt  to  France,  it 
appeared  as  if  this  intercourse  fostered  their  industry  more 
than  it  did  ours.     If  the  general  balance  of  trade  were  in 


VI.]  Economic  Policy.  131 

our  favour  the  whole  business  of  the  country  was  apparently 
being  done  at  a  profit.  But  if  the  particular  balance  with 
any  nation  were  against  us,  it  seemed  to  show  that  they  were 
gaining  at  our  expense,  that  we  offered  a  better  market  to 
them  than  they  offered  to  us,  and  it  was  feared  lest  in 
this  way  they  would  gradually  outstrip  us  in  industrial  pro- 
sperity and  consequent  wealth.  It  is  here  that  the  close  con- 
nexion of  the  doctrine  of  balance  of  trade  with  the  pursuit 
of  political  power  makes  itself  felt.  The  power  of  one 
nation  is  relative  to  the  power  of  other  nations.  If  a 
country  increases  its  armaments,  but  does  not  increase  them 
so  fast  as  a  rival  nation  does,  it  is  really  becoming  less 
powerful  relatively  to  its  possible  enemy.  And  hence,  ac- 
cording to  the  ideas  of  the  time,  political  jealousy  gave  rise 
directly  and  immediately  to  commercial  hostility.  It  was 
not  until  the  time  of  Adam  Smith  that  this  narrow  view  of 
trade  was  set  aside.  He  regarded  wealth  as  the  main  object 
to  be  pursued;  he  held  that  if  the  wealth  of  the  subjects 
increased,  the  sinews  of  power  would  be  available  somehow, 
and  hence  he  argued  that  any  intercourse  between  trading 
nations,  since  it  benefited  both  in  some  degree,  might  be 
wisely  continued.  Each  was  really  aiding  the  prosperity  of 
the  other,  and  since  he  regarded  it  as  impossible  to  discrim- 
inate which  gained  most,  he  was  prepared  to  hold  that  free 
intercourse  between  nations  would  be  for  the  mutual  advan- 
tage of  all. 

88,     Since  the  desire  to  promote  power  lay  at  the  root  of 
the  whole  system,  there  was  no  scruple  about 

■  n    •  •  r   ■      T     •  1       1      •    •  Individual 

sacrificing  the  interests  of  individual  citizens,    interests  and 
or  of  any  class  of  citizens,  to  what  was  sup-   national  pros- 
posed  to  tend  to  the  political  well-being  of  the   ^^"  ^' 
nation  as  a  whole.     On  these  grounds,  as  has  been  noted 
above,  the  taste  of  claret-drinkers  was  sacrificed,  and  those 


132     Ont lines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

who  were  fond  of  port  were  the  gainers.  So,  on  a  larger 
scale,  there  was  constant  interference  with  the  direction  in 
which  men  employed  their  capital.  The  art  of  the  states- 
man, as  conceived  by  Sir  James  Steuart,  the  last  of  the  mer- 
cantilists, was  that  of  so  playing  upon  the  self-interest  of 
individuals  that  they  should  devote  their  energies  to  those 
undertakings  which  fostered  national  power.  It  was  for 
this  reason  that  so  much  attention  was  directed  to  fisheries 
and  to  distant  trades  which  employed  shipping,  and  that 
premiums  were  offered  for  the  encouragement  of  the  Scotch 
and  Irish  linen  trade.  Bounties  were  also  given  on  the  im- 
portation of  raw  produce  to  be  manufactured  in  this  realm, 
as  this  seemed  to  be  a  real  though  a  costly  means  of  stimu- 
lating certain  industries.  With  this  same  object,  a  revision 
of  the  tariffs  was  systematically  undertaken  by  Walpole,  who 
set  himself  to  regulate  the  taxation  of  the  country,  so  that 
manufactures  might  be  directly  encouraged.  Raw  products 
were  imported  on  easy  terms,  and  foreign  manufactures  were 
heavily  taxed.  Attempts  were  made  to  foster  English  in- 
dustry on  many  sides,  and  under  the  influence  of  this  policy 
we  became  much  more  independent  of  foreign  nations,  and 
obtained  a  footing  for  our  manufactures  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  But  though  the  result  aimed  at  was  attained,  it  is 
not  certain  how  far  the  means  employed  really  contributed 
to  that  end.  Adam  Smith's  careful  investigation  has  made 
it  clear  that  the  measures  which  favoured  one  industry  or 
interest  were  very  costly  to  others,  and  it  seems  quite  pos- 
sible that  the  industrial  development  of  the  country  might 
have  been  as  rapid,  if  it  had  gone  on  with  less  interference. 
Sir  James  Steuart  had  recognised  that  the  practical  difficul- 
ties were  such  as  to  render  it  almost  impossible  to  legislate 
wisely  for  trade  in  the  public  behalf;  Adam  Smith  revolu- 
tionised the  existing  system  by  going  one  step  further.     He 


VI.]  Economic  Policy.  133 

maintained  that  interference  with  trade  was  so  sure  to  entail 
some  mischief  that  it  was  practically  better  to  leave  it  alone. 
89.     The  most  disastrous  results  of  this  attempt  to  sub- 
ordinate   particular    interests    to    the    public 

1      1  •  !•     1  Colonial 

good,  followed  when  it  was  applied  not  merely     interests  and 
to  individual  industries,  but  was  also  used  to     national 

....  ,  -.r  1-11  power. 

discriminate  between  areas.  None  of  the  colo- 
nies contributed  anything  to  the  general  revenue  of  the 
realm.  The  greater  number  found  it  difficult  to  meet  the 
expense  of  their  internal  government.  Still,  the  colonists 
had  their  trade  protected  by  British  fleets,  and  were  depend- 
ent on  the  mother  country  for  assistance  in  the  great  struggle 
with  their  French  neighbours.  Their  political  interests  were 
bound  up,  though  not  very  closely,  with  those  of  England, 
while  they  took  no  direct  part  in  contributing  to  the  main- 
tenance of  these  defensive  powers.  Hence  it  came  to  be  a 
recognised  principle  of  policy  that  the  resources  of  the 
colonies  should  be  developed  in  such  a  fashion  as  to  supple- 
ment the  material  prosperity  of  the  mother  country,  but  not 
on  lines  which  would  enable  them  to  compete  either  with 
British  industry  or  with  British  trade.  British  land,  British 
industry  and  British  trade  provided  the  costs  of  common 
defence.  It  seemed  fair  to  subordinate  the  economic 
interests  of  the  colonies  to  the  interests  of  the  mother 
country,  so  that  they  might  help  to  increase  the  fund  of 
wealth  from  which  the  expenses  of  the  common  defence 
were  defrayed.  This  broad  political  principle  was  so  ap- 
plied as  to  enforce  on  the  colonies  that  economic  policy 
which  best  suited  the  interest  of  the  mother  country,  and 
which  thus  contributed  indirectly  to  the  maintenance  of 
English  power. 

go.     The  most  favoured  group  of  colonies  consisted  of 
those  in  the  West  Indies  which  supplied  products  entirely 


134    Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

distinct  from  those  of  England.     They  thus  supplemented 
The  West  ^^  resourccs  of  the  mother  country,  and  ren- 

indian  coio-       dcred  her  independent  of  the  supplies  which 
nies,  and  must    Otherwise    have    been    obtained    from 

Virginia. 

French  or  Spanish  possessions.  The  West 
Indian  colonies  also  furnished  a  depot  for  a  profitable  trade 
with  Spanish  America,  while  they  were  conveniently  situated 
for  the  prosecution  of  the  slave-trade,  which  employed  much 
English  shipping.  On  these  grounds  they  were  specially 
favoured,  and  much  pains  were  taken  to  develop  their  re- 
sources and  to  foster  their  trade.  So  clearly  was  this  felt 
that  the  trade  of  the  northern  colonies  on  the  American 
mainland  was  somewhat  restricted  in  the  hope  of  giving 
additional  prosperity  to  the  West  Indian  islands. 

Virginia  was  also  favoured  to  a  certain  extent.  Tobacco 
had  not  been  grown  in  England  or  in  Ireland  in  early  times, 
and  when  the  first  attempts  at  planting  it  occurred,  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  considerable  efforts  were  made  to  check 
the  new  development.  It  was  regarded  as  the  staple  product 
of  Virginia,  and  the  British  and  Irish  tobacco  growers  were 
not  suffered  to  compete  with  the  colonists.  In  all  proba- 
bility this  measure  was,  to  some  extent,  dictated  by  fiscal 
considerations,  as  it  was  far  easier  to  collect  duties  on 
imported  tobacco  than  to  levy  an  excise  on  any  that  might 
be  produced  in  England  or  Ireland.  Still  the  fact  remains 
that  in  this  one  instance  a  British  interest  was  sacrificed  to 
maintain  the  prosperity  of  a  colony.  Even  though  it  was 
an  exceptional  case,  it  yet  seems  to  illustrate  the  attitude 
taken  by  English  statesmen  and  to  set  their  whole  policy  in 
a  clearer  light. 

91.  The  northern  colonies,  from  their  physical  and 
climatic  conditions,  naturally  came  into  direct  competition 
with  the  mother  country.     They  had  special  advantages  for 


VI.]  Economic  Policy.  135 

pursuing  some  trades,  such  as  the  manufacture  of  beaver 
hats  or  the  smelting  and  manufacture  of  iron.    ^^    ^,     ^ 

°     _  The  Northern 

The  former  of  these  industries  was,  however,    colonies 
stamped  out  by  the  home  Government,  and   Economic 

dependence. 

the  latter  was  limited  to  those  preliminary 
processes  which  could  not  be  so  well  conducted  in  the 
mother  country  owing  to  the  increasing  expense  of  fuel. 
Ship-building  was  another  trade  for  which  the  northern 
colonies  were  naturally  well  adapted;  but  this  would  have 
meant  direct  competition  with  a  British  industry,  and  they 
were  encouraged  to  send  the  raw  materials  for  building  and 
fitting  ships  to  England.  On  somewhat  different  grounds 
the  policy  of  confining  the  colonies  to  the  raising  of  raw 
products  was  pursued  alike  in  regard  to  the  more  favoured 
southern  groups,  and  to  the  less  favoured  northern  colonies. 
It  was  distinctly  believed  that  by  rendering  the  colonists 
economically  dependent  on  the  mother  country  for  manu- 
factures and  other  supplies,  the  political  tie  was  strength- 
ened. To  some  extent  this  may  have  been  the  case,  but  it 
might  be  argued  that  the  general  result  of  the  policy  was 
precisely  the  reverse  of  what  had  been  intended.  When 
the  conquest  of  French  Canada  diminished  the  interest  of 
the  colonists  in  the  political  struggles  and  ambitions  of  the 
mother  country,  the  restrictions  upon  their  trade  and 
manufactures  proved  a  source  of  constant  irritation  and 
led  directly  to  the  breach  by  which  these  flourishing  terri- 
tories were  lost  to  England  for  ever. 

92.     The  policy  already  described  receives  abundant 
illustration  nearer  home,  for  it  was  in  the  case   ,,.  .  ^„„ 

'  Irish  com- 

of  Ireland  that  competition  with  the  mother  petition  in  the 
country  was  most  possible,  and  that  economic   ^°°  f" , 

■'  '■  '  manufacture. 

jealousy  was  consequently  keenest.     Ireland   The  Irish 
was  well  adapted  for  growing  wool,  and  the   ''"^"  ^t^^^- 


136    Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

peasants  in  some  parts  of  the  country  had  long  been  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  a  coarse  cloth  known  as  frieze.  There 
is  some  reason  to  believe  that  in  the  fourteenth  century  there 
had  been  a  manufacture  of  finer  cloth  as  well,  while  in  the 
seventeenth  century  repeated  efforts  were  made  to  plant  the 
manufacture  of  broadcloth  —  an  important  article  of  English 
production.  As  living  was  comparatively  cheap,  and  as  wool 
could  be  obtained  in  plenty,  it  seemed  as  if  Ireland  would 
have  special  advantages  for  this  manufacture.  Strafford, 
who  saw  that  if  the  project  succeeded  it  must  be  through 
successful  competition  with  England,  opposed  the  scheme, 
and  tried  to  direct  the  industrial  energies  of  the  country 
into  the  linen  trade.  After  the  Civil  War,  however,  renewed 
attempts  were  made,  although  without  much  success,  until 
in  the  time  of  William  III  the  West  of  England  manu- 
facturers awoke  to  the  superior  advantages  which  Ireland 
had  to  offer,  and  migrated  thither  in  considerable  numbers. 
But  a  change  of  this  kind  aroused  great  alarm.  England 
was  engaged  in  a  struggle  with  Louis  XIV,  which  strained 
all  her  resources.  She  had  to  depend  chiefly  on  the  land-tax 
and  the  customs  for  her  revenue.  In  so  far  as  the  West 
of  England  manufacturers  migrated  to  Ireland  the  land- 
owners would  lose  through  a  fall  in  the  price  of  wool,  and 
the  customs  on  the  export  of  cloth  would  be  diverted  from 
the  P^nglish  to  the  Irish  revenue.  With  the  avowed  object 
of  preventing  this  financial  difficulty  a  tax  was  imposed  on 
Irish  cloth,  which  was  calculated  to  be  a  countervailing  duty. 
It  was,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  so  oppressive  that,  in  conjunction 
with  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the  Navigation  Act,  it 
effectually  ruined  the  prospects  of  an  Irish  woollen  manu- 
facture, and  dispersed  the  artisans  who  were  carrying  it  on 
in  Dublin  and  other  Irish  towns.  As  these  men  emigrated 
to  the  Continent,  and  practised  their  calling  in  Germany 


VI.]  Economic  Policy.  1 37 

and  elsewhere,  they  set  up  rival  manufactories  which  com- 
peted very  seriously  with  those  of  England. 

Even  the  linen  trade,  which  had  been  fostered  by 
Strafford  and  in  which  the  Irish  were  encouraged  to  find 
compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  woollen  manufacture,  was 
not  fairly  dealt  with.  When,  by  the  Union,  England  and 
Scotland  came  to  have  a  common  purse,  the  Scotch  linen 
trade  was  encouraged,  both  directly  and  indirectly,  while 
the  Irish  manufacture  was  not.  There  was  even  some  jea- 
lousy of  this  trade  on  the  part  of  English  clothiers.  It  was 
said  that  towns  in  the  Low  Countries,  which  at  that  time 
offered  a  good  market  for  cloth,  would  be  practically  closed 
against  us,  if  we  did  not  buy  our  linen  from  them ;  and  thus 
English  politicians  were  inclined  to  look  askance  at  the 
development  of  this  trade,  even  though  it  did  not  directly 
compete  with  any  established  English  industry. 

93.  So  far  we  have  considered  the  effects  of  the  eco- 
nomic  jealousy  of   Ireland,   that   is,  of    sue-    „,^.    . 

'  -^  Whig  jea- 

cessful  hostile   competition  by   Ireland  with   lousy  of  Irish 
the  mother  country.     But  political    jealousy   prosperity  — 

•^  ^  •'    .  -'     Irish  cattle. 

was  also  an  important  factor.  Both  in  the 
time  of  Charles  I  and  James  II  Irish  armies  had  been 
formed  and  had  been  under  the  sole  control  of  the  Crown. 
They  had  served  at  least  to  threaten  the  English  Parliament 
and  to  support  schemes  of  policy  which  were  regarded  as 
unconstitutional.  In  this  way  the  Whig  jealousy  of  the 
royal  power,  from  which  William  III  suffered  so  much, 
came,  indirectly,  to  be  a  jealousy  of  Ireland,  as  a  source 
from  which  the  king  might  draw  independent  resources  of 
men  and  money  without  appealing  to  the  English  Parlia- 
ment at  all.  This  gave  an  additional  importance  to  the 
hostile  competition  which  has  been  already  described.  The 
migration  of  industry  from  the  West  of  England  to  Ireland 


138     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

meant  the  transference  of  resources  from  a  region  which 
Parliament  could  control  to  a  district  where  they  lay  directly 
in  the  hands  of  the  Crown.  This  jealousy  was  expressed 
in  Charles  II's  reign  on  the  occasion  of  an  attack  which  was 
made  on  the  Duke  of  Ormond.  He  was  interested  in  the 
development  of  cattle-breeding  and  grazing  farms  in  Ireland. 
The  English  landlords  and  graziers  objected  to  what  they 
regarded  as  hostile  competition,  and  Parliament  imposed 
restrictions  on  the  exportation  of  Irish  cattle,  which  effec- 
tually stopped  the  progress  of  cattle  farms  in  that  country. 
That  this  was  due  to  political  jealousy  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  no  similar  measure  was  passed  against  Scotland, 
although  the  economic  competition  of  the  two  smaller  king- 
doms was  very  similar  in  regard  to  this  trade. 

94.     Besides   these   repressive   measures,   which  were 

due  partly  to  economic  and  partly  to  political 

Irish  Protec-      jealousy,  the  progress  of  Ireland  was  retarded 

tion.   The         |^y  somc  of  the  measures  which  gave  encour- 

Union.  ^  ° 

agement  to  English  interests.  This  was  espe- 
cially noticeable  in  the  case  of  her  agriculture.  Pococke, 
in  an  account  of  his  tour  in  1752,  gives  a  most  instructive 
picture  of  the  backwardness  of  the  country  in  this  respect. 
The  Corn  Bounty  Act  (1689),  which  did  so  much  to 
stimulate  agriculture  in  England,  rendered  it  convenient 
for  English  farmers  to  grow  so  much  corn  that  they  had  a 
large  surplus  to  export  to  Ireland.  Dublin  and  other  towns 
could  obtain  their  food  supply  from  England,  and  there  was 
far  less  demand  for  Irish -grown  wheat  than  would  otherwise 
have  been  the  case.  As  a  consequence,  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  while  English  tillage  was  advancing  steadily,  there 
was  little  corn  grown  in  Ireland,  even  in  those  parts  which 
were  naturally  well  adapted  for  it.  It  thus  came  about  that 
Parliament,   in  the  interests  of   the  power  of   the  mother 


VI.]  Ecojwinic  Policy.  139 

country,  felt  justified  in  repressing  the  hostile  competition 
of  the  colonies  and  Ireland.  While  they  welcomed  such 
development  in  the  West  Indies  and  America  as  supple- 
mented the  resources  of  the  mother  country,  they  gave  no 
free  scope  to  any  Irish  industry,  and  the  measures  which 
promoted  the  prosperity  of  England  were  positively  inju- 
rious to  its  poorer  neighbour. 

When,  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  by  the 
American  colonies,  greater  freedom  was  given  to  the  Irish 
Parliament  to  manage  the  commercial  affairs  of  that  king- 
dom, various  efforts  were  made  to  adopt  the  various  expedi- 
ents for  promoting  economic  prosperity  which  had  been 
carried  out  successfully  in  England.  Some  of  these  —  like 
the  canals  —  were  not  well  adapted  to  the  condition  of  the 
sister  Island,  though  useful  in  this  country  for  the  convey- 
ance of  mineral  wealth;  others  were  of  a  costly  character, 
and  the  disciples  of  Adam  Smith  denounced  them  as  ruinous. 
Irish  patriots  gave  expression  to  a  not  unnatural  hostility  to 
English  manufactures;  and  the  measures  passed  by  the  Irish 
Parliament  found  few  defenders  on  this  side  of  the  Channel, 
while  they  were  important  elements  in  turning  public 
opinion  against  Irish  commercial  independence  and  in 
favour  of  a  closer  union  between  the  two  countries. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

MONEY,   CREDIT,   AND   FINANCE. 

95.  From  the  very  earliest  times  of  which  we  have  any 
Barter.  Money  records  the  English  appear  to  have  been 
payment  and  acquainted  with  the  use  of  money.  We 
compe  1  ion.  (^^j^j^q^  gQ  back  to  any  period  and  say  that 
in  it  there  was  no  exchange  of  commodities,  or  even  that 
goods  were  only  bartered  for  goods  while  money  was 
not  used  at  all.  Still  there  has  been  very  great  progress 
made  both  in  regard  to  the  knowledge  of  the  nature  of 
money,  and  also  in  applying  it  to  many  transactions  which 
were  for  centuries  carried  on  without  it.  Some  economists 
speak  of  the  times,  or  the  spheres  of  life,  in  which  men  pro- 
cure their  food  and  shelter  without  the  intervention  of  money 
as  instances  of  natural  economy,  and  those  in  which  money- 
bargains  occur  as  cases  of  money  economy.  There  has  been  a 
gradual  substitution  of  money  economy  for  natural  economy 
in  almost  all  the  relations  of  life;  some  of  the  most  difficult 
problems  in  economic  history  arise  from  our  attempts  to 
trace  the  steps  of  this  change,  and  to  show  how  it  has  re- 
acted, for  good  or  for  evil,  on  social  and  political  life. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  introduction  of  money  renders 
it  much  more  easy  to  carry  out  an  exchange.  Barter  is 
cumbrous,  and  it  is  also  unlikely  to  be  fair:  it  is  difficult  to 

140 


Chap,  vii.]       Momy,   Credit,  and  Finance.  141 

estimate  the  quality  of  any  goods  quite  precisely,  or  to  pay 
for  them  accurately  in  cattle  or  other  forms  of  wealth  which 
are  not  easily  divisible.  Close  bargaining  is  only  possible 
when  money  is  in  ordinary  use,  as  a  means  of  defining 
clearly  and  paying  accurately;  and  so  it  is  a  great  assistance 
in  rendering  bargains  fair  as  between  man  and  man.  When 
there  can  be  such  close  bargaining,  it  is  possible  to  readjust 
the  terms  of  exchange  more  accurately  with  every  little  varia- 
tion in  the  plenty  and  scarcity  of  goods.  So  long  as  barter 
prevails,  there  are  likely  to  be  customary  payments  of  rent, 
and  wages,  and  taxes;  but  as  money  is  introduced,  there 
may  be  frequent  rearrangement  of  these  payments  and  they 
come  to  be  settled  by  competition.  The  regime  of  competi- 
tion is  almost  impracticable  among  people  to  whom  barter 
is  the  only  method  of  exchange  known.  When  money  is 
first  introduced  in  any  sphere,  there  may  be  a  long  period 
of  fixed  or  assessed  money  prices  which  perpetuate  the  old 
arrangements  in  a  new  form ;  but  sooner  or  later  compe- 
tition, with  its  frequent  and  precise  readjustments  of  prices, 
is  likely  to  follow  the  introduction  of  the  method  of  reck- 
oning and  of  paying  in  money. 

Competition  is  in  these  days  a  word  of  evil  omen;  its 
oppressive  effects  in  some  sections  of  society  are  very  sad, 
and  many  of  us  are  inclined  to  look  back  with  regret  to  the 
more  stable  conditions  of  customary  prices  and  assessed 
wages.  But  it  is  well  to  remember  that  competition  has 
come  into  being  as  the  result  of  the  introduction  of  money 
economy;  whatever  incidental  disadvantages  there  may 
have  been  in  this  change,  there  are  also  enormous  advan- 
tages, which  we  are  apt  to  overlook.  These  become  very 
apparent  when  we  trace  the  substitution  of  a  money  for 
a  natural  economy  in  connexion  with  the  expenses  of 
government.     The   intervention  of   the   former  renders   it 


142     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  Histoiy.    [Chap. 

possible  for  the  demands  of  the  Government  to  be  much 
more  precise,  and  much  more  regular,  and  thus  to  be  far 
less  onerous  to  those  who  have  to  defray  them.  Money 
can  also  be  levied  in  smaller  sums  and  from  a  much  larger 
circle,  so  as  to  be  less  burdensome  to  special  localities; 
while  it  is  possible  to  readjust  the  amounts  and  alter  them 
in  detail,  so  that  the  necessary  pressure  shall  fall  on  those 
who  can  bear  it  best.  All  these  points  come  out  in  the 
fiscal  history  of  the  country;  but  before  dwelling  on  them 
we  must  note  the  principal  changes  that  have  been  made 
in  regard  to  money  itself  and  the  growth  of  experience  in 
the  employment  of  silver  and  gold  and  other  forms  of 
money. 

96.  In  the  period  before  the  Norman  Conquest  and 
Standard  indeed  long  after  it,  silver  was  the  standard 

silver,  and  the    ^-letal  from  which   money  was   coined;  and 

debasement  . 

of  the  though  there  were  moneyers  m  different  towns, 

coinage.  t^gy  exercised  their  calling  under  the  control 

and  authority  of  the  Crown.  There  were,  indeed,  encroach- 
ments on  this,  as  on  other  Crown  rights,  from  time  to  time; 
but  during  periods  of  strong  and  vigorous  government, 
great  attention  was  given  to  the  maintenance  of  a  definite 
standard  of  purity  and  weight.  Henry  I  inflicted  severe 
punishment  on  dishonest  moneyers,  and  Henry  H  busied 
himself  about  the  re-organisation  of  the  i\Iint;  from  his 
time  onwards  the  excellence  of  the  English  coin  came  to  be 
a  matter  of  just  pride  to  the  kings  whose  image  and  super- 
scription it  bore. 

Some  allusion  has  been  made  above  (p.  1 2  7 )  to  the  difficul- 
ties which  arose,during  the  time  of  the  Edwards,  when  consi- 
derable quantities  of  debased  foreign  coin  were  brought  into 
this  country  by  the  alien  merchants  who  came  to  purchase 
wool.     Edward  I  tried  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  such 


vri.]  Money,   Credit,  and  Finance.  143 

coin,  so  as  to  keep  up  the  standard  of  the  English  currency; 
but  Edward  III  took  the  first  step  in  a  downward  career, 
by  issuing  coins  from  the  Mint  of  less  than  the  ancient 
weight.  It  is  almost  impossible  for  good  and  bad  coins 
to  circulate  together  at  the  same  nominal  value;  people  are 
apt  to  pick  out  the  best  coins,  either  because  they  wish  to 
hoard  them,  or  to  melt  them  down  and  use  the  bullion  for 
export  or  for  ornament,  The  effort  to  keep  up  the  ancient 
standard  of  the  currency  had  not  been  successful;  Edward 
III  probably  tried  to  issue  new  coins  that  should  be  of 
about  the  value  of  those  in  ordinary  circulation.  He  also 
seems  to  have  tried  to  check  the  influx  of  debased  silver, 
by  coining  Rose  Nobles  of  gold,  which  were  to  serve  the 
purpose  of  international  trade  with  Flanders,  and  which 
were  emblematic  of  his  claim  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  sea. 
This  left  less  excuse  for  the  importation  of  corrupt  foreign 
silver,  but  he  did  not  succeed  in  excluding  it  altogether.  In 
many  continental  countries,  during  the  fourteenth  century, 
the  debasement  of  the  coinage  was  very  rapid;  there  was  a 
slight  temporary  gain  to  the  Crown,  and  the  ulterior  effects 
were  not  fully  understood,  though  expounded  with  great 
clearness  by  a  French  bishop  —  Nicholas  Oresme.  Event- 
ually English  kings  betook  themselves  to  this  disastrous 
method  of  tiding  over  temporary  necessities.  A  Avholesale 
debasement  of  the  English  coinage  took  place  in  the  time 
of  Henry  VlII  and  Edward  VI,  when  the  coins  were  not 
merely  reduced  in  size,  but  the  metal  was  debased  by  a 
very  large  admixture  of  alloy.  The  coins  of  one  issue  of 
Edward  VI  contained  only  three  parts  of  pure  silver  to 
nine  of  alloy.  The  economists  and  moneyers  of  the  time 
did  not  fully  realise  the  mischievous  effects  of  this  debase- 
ment, and  much  care  was  needed  to  reassert  sound  princi- 
ples, and  to  give  them  effect  in  the  earlier  years  of  Queen 


144    Outlines  of  Ejiglish  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

Elizabeth.  In  1561  the  silver  coinage  was  restored  to  its 
original  purity,  but  the  new  issues  were  smaller  in  size  and 
weight  than  the  statutory  coins  of  Plantagenet  times. 
A  pound  of  silver  was  not  minted  into  merely  twenty  but 
into  sixty  shillings.  That  recoinage  marks  a  date  when  the 
responsible  officers  had  learned  from  experience  one  useful 
lesson  about  the  nature  of  money.  As  the  Discourse  of 
the  Common  Weal  shows,  public  opinion  in  the  time  of 
Edward  VI  was  not  clear  as  to  the  evils  of  a  debased 
currency,  but,  from  the  time  of  Elizabeth  onwards,  no 
English  Government  has  ventured  on  the  dangerous  expe- 
dient of  deliberately  tampering  with  the  standard. 

97.     For  alterations  in  the  size  or  purity  of  coins  neces- 
sarily bring  about  alterations  in  the  number 

The  fall  in  . 

the  value  of        that  must  be   paid  for  goods  of   any  kind, 
silver  and  rise    jf  ^I-^g  quality  of  the  money  is  worse,  it  is 

of  prices. 

necessary  to  pay  a  greater  quantity  of  coins 
than  before,  for  any  given  article.  In  technical  language,  if 
the  value  of  money  falls,  the  prices  of  commodities  of  every 
kind  must  rise.  Prices  rose  in  the  time  of  Edward  VI; 
the  coins  were  so  bad,  that  the  buyer  had  always  to  pay  a 
greater  number  of  shillings  than  before  to  induce  the  seller 
to  part  with  his  wares.  But  when  the  purity  of  the  coins 
was  restored  to  its  ancient  fineness,  prices  did  not  return  to 
their  old  level,  as  people  had  expected.  This  was  partly 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  coins  were  smaller  than  formerly, 
but  it  also  arose  from  another  cause  that  was  not  obvious 
until  many  years  after  the  recoinage  occurred.  The  silver  of 
which  the  coins  were  made  was  much  more  plentiful,  and 
therefore  far  cheaper,  than  it  had  ever  been  before.  The 
first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  a  time  when  silver 
was  beginning  to  pour  in  from  the  New  World,  and  there 
was  a  consequent  fall  in  its  value,  which  prevented  prices 


VII.]  Momy,   Credit,  and  Finance.  145 

from  returning  to  their  old  level.  In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 
customers  had  to  pay  a  larger  number  of  pieces  of  cheap 
though  pure  silver  for  the  purchase  of  commodities  than  they 
would  have  had  to  pay  for  the  same  goods  at  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  Henry  VII,  when  silver  had  been  so  much 
more  scarce.  This  rise  of  prices,  consequent  on  the  in- 
creasing plenty  of  pure  silver,  went  on  steadily  till  about 
the  time  of  Charles  I;  and  it  is  generally  calculated  that 
during  this  period  the  nominal  prices  of  commodities  in 
England  rose  three  or  four  hundred  per  cent. 

98.     These  changes  in  the  coins  and  in  the  value  of 
silver  render  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  make   Difficulty  in 
any  satisfactory  comparison   between  money   finding  or 
prices  during  the   Middle   Ages  and  at  the   standl"d  of 
present  day.       For  a  very  long   period    the   value  for  long 
price  of  corn  in  England  was  nearly  stable.    ^^"°  ^' 
As,  during  this  period,  silver  was  getting  scarcer  and  scarcer, 
and  steadily  rising  in  value  throughout  Europe,  it  appears 
probable  that  a  deterioration  of  the  coinage  was  going  on 
slowly,  or  the  rise  in  the  value  of  silver  would  surely  have 
been  reflected  by  a  fall  in  general  prices.     There  appears, 
however,  to  have  been  one  epoch  at  which  the  general 
range  of  prices  was  somewhat  disturbed.     The  booty,  pro- 
cured by  English  soldiers  from  the  town  of  Calais  and  the 
French   campaigns   of    Edward    III,  appears   to  have  got 
rapidly  into  circulation,  and  to   have   been    sufficient   to 
cause  a  slight  rise  in  the  general  range  of  prices  about  1347 
and  1348.     This  seems  to  have  given  real  ground  for  dis- 
content with  the  attempt  of  the  legislature,  in  the  Statute  of 
Labourers  (1350-1),  to  force  back  the  rates  of  payment  to 
those  which  had  been  current  in  the  year  1346.     But  on 
the  whole  it  may  be  said  that,  from  the  earliest  times  when 
accounts  are  kept  until  the  beginning  of  the  Tudor  period, 

L 


146     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

the  nominal  prices  of  the  necessaries  of  life  were  practically 
unaltered,  except  in  so  far  as  the  variations  of  the  seasons 
made  corn  plentiful  or  scarce.  The  changes  which  occur 
in  the  sixteenth  and  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century 
were  owing  to  the  reduction  of  the  coins  to  less  than  a 
third  of  their  former  weight,  and  the  reduction  of  the  value 
of  silver  to  one-fourth  of  what  it  had  been.  As  a  rough 
and  ready  method  of  comparison  it  may  be  said  that  a 
shilling  of  the  later  part  of  the  seventeenth  and  succeeding 
centuries  would  not  go  quite  so  far  as  a  penny  in  the 
fifteenth  and  preceding  centuries.  But  this  comparison  of 
nominal  prices,  rough  as  it  is,  only  takes  us  a  very  little 
way  towards  making  any  intelligent  comparison  of  the 
standard  of  comfort.  Partly  from  lack  of  information  about 
the  quality  of  goods,  it  is  very  difficult  to  compare  medieval 
prices  with  those  of  the  present  day;  even  if  such  a  com- 
parison could  be  had,  it  must  still  be  borne  in  mind  that 
many  of  the  comforts  of  modern  life  were  entirely  unknown, 
and  wholly  unattainable  even  by  wealthy  people  in  the 
Middle  Ages. 

99.  From  the  time  of  Elizabeth  until  the  Revolution 
The  recoin-  there  scems  to  have  been  comparatively  little 
age  of  1696.  alteration  in  the  coinage.  The  throes  of  the 
Civil  War  appear  to  have  made  but  little  difference  in  the 
issues  of  the  currency.  At  the  same  time  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  during  this  period  the  coinage  was  subjected  to 
a  very  special  strain.  Money  transactions  were  much  more 
common  than  they  had  been  in  medieval  times.  The  cir- 
culation of  the  coinage  was  more  rapid,  while  there  was  less 
desire  to  hoard,  and  more  encouragement  for  wealthy  men 
to  leave  their  gold  with  goldsmiths  who  lent  it  out  to 
traders.  The  facilities  which  paper  money  gives  were,  if 
not  wholly  unknown,  at  least  little  developed.     Exclusive 


VII.]  ]\Ioncy,   Credit,  and  Finajicc.  147 

reliance  on  bullion  for  payments  exposed  the  coinage  of 
the  country  to  wear  and  tear,  while  it  was  also  alleged  that 
many  of  the  money-dealers  habitually  enriched  themselves 
by  clipping  it.  In  the  time  of  William  III,  consequently, 
English  coinage  was  again  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  state. 
The  chief  practical  difficulties  which  arose  were  felt  in  inter- 
course with  other  countries.  William  III  had  to  maintain 
large  armaments  abroad;  and  to  procure  the  necessary  coin 
for  payments  in  the  Low  Countries,  he  had  to  meet  an 
adverse  rate  of  exchange.  One  hundred  and  thirty-three 
nominal  pounds  of  the  clipped  silver  of  this  country  had  to 
be  paid  in  order  to  secure  a  hundred  pounds  of  current 
silver  in  Flanders.  Hence  the  burden  of  taxation  was  im- 
mensely increased.  As  Professor  Thorold  Rogers  has  shown, 
the  immediate  effect  of  the  recoinage  of  1696  was  to  remedy 
the  serious  disadvantage  under  which  England  laboured. 
The  adverse  rate  went  gradually  backwards,  and  within  a 
few  months  the  rates  were  so  far  equalised  that  nominal  pay- 
ments in  this  country  exactly  corresponded  with  the  money 
obtained  for  military  purposes  from  bankers  in  Flanders. 

100.  Eighteenth  century  difficulties  about  the  coinage 
were  of  a  somewhat  different  character.  They  The  gold 
arose  from  the  fact  that  gold  and  silver  were  standard, 
alike  standard  coins,  and  that  it  seemed  impossible  to  fix 
and  maintain  the  ratio  of  one  metal  to  the  other.  In  the 
time  of  Charles  II  guineas  had  been  coined,  which  were 
intended  to  be  of  the  same  value  as  twenty  shillings  in 
silver.  It  was  found,  however,  in  practice  that  the  gold  was 
more  valuable  than  had  been  supposed,  and  that  twenty-one 
shillings  were  an  approximate  equivalent.  But  this  was 
only  approximate.  Silver  coins  were,  on  the  whole,  rated 
somewhat  too  low,  and  there  was  a  temptation  to  melt  down 
silver  coins  and  to  sell  the  bullion  for  gold.     The  deficiency 


148     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

of  silver  coins  was,  in  consequence,  a  matter  of  frequent 
complaint,  and  the  inconvenience,  which  resulted,  served 
to  give  popularity  and  vitality  to  the  mercantilist  doctrine  of 
legislating  to  secure  a  balance  of  trade.  It  was  not  until 
18 16  that  a  real  attempt  was  made  to  get  rid  of  the  difficulty 
altogether  by  the  demonetisation  of  silver.  When  gold 
became  the  sole  recognised  standard  of  value,  silver  could 
be  coined  with  such  an  amount  of  alloy  that  it  should  never 
be  profitable  to  melt  it  down;  while,  when  a  limit  was  fixed 
beyond  which  payments  in  silver  should  not  be  legal  tender, 
debtors  were  prevented  from  endeavouring  to  discharge 
their  obligations  in  the  less  valuable  of  two  standard  metals. 
It  may  be  possible,  as  bimetallists  hope,  to  arrange  by  legis- 
lation and  international  agreement  for  a  standard  that  shall 
be  more  stable  and  less  fluctuating  than  gold.  This,  too,  is 
liable  to  changes,  such  as  occurred  when  Europe  was  flooded 
with  the  precious  metals  obtained  in  the  New  World,  or 
there  may  be  an  exhaustion  of  the  sources  of  supply  such  as 
was  felt  during  the  Middle  Ages.  It  may  be  that  a  combined 
gold  and  silver  standard  —  like  a  compensating  pendulum  — 
would  serve  better  than  either  metal  taken  independently 
and  by  itself;  but  the  experience  of  centuries  seems  to 
show  that  attempts  to  use  one  or  other  of  two  metals  as  a 
standard  is  sure  to  cause  grave  difficulties  either  within  a 
realm  or  in  the  relations  of  international  trade. 

loi.  The  foundation  of  the  Bank  of  England  (1694) 
The  Bank  of  ^^'^  ^^^y  i^portant  cffccts  in  popularising  the 
England  and      usc  of  paper  uioucy  and  other  forms  of  credit. 

notes.  rj.j^g  Bank  was  a  company  which  lent  its  capital 
of  ;2^i, 200,000  to  Government  on  condition  of  receiving 
;^ioo,ooo  permanently  as  interest.  This  constant  revenue 
gave  it  a  strong  position  as  a  wealthy  body,  and  the  Bank  was 
able  to  circulate  its  notes,  or  promises  to  pay,  as  if  they  had 


VII.]  Money,   Credit,  and  Finance.  149 

been  actual  coins.  The  public  had  confidence  that  these  notes 
could  be  exchanged  for  gold  on  demand,  and  were  therefore 
willing  to  take  them  as  the  equivalent  of  gold.  The  private 
firms  of  goldsmiths,  with  whom  the  Bank  competed,  made 
a  serious  attempt  soon  after  its  formation  to  discredit  its 
notes  by  causing  a  run  on  the  Bank  at  a  time  when,  owing 
to  the  recoinage,  there  were  special  circumstances  which 
rendered  it  difficult  to  obtain  the  necessary  bullion.  The 
Bank,  however,  defied  this  conspiracy;  and  as  it  was  able  to 
meet  the  bona  fide  demands  of  its  ordinary  customers,  the 
incident  does  not  appear  to  have  done  any  serious  harm. 
This  was,  perhaps,  the  first  instance  of  a  problem  which 
has  had  to  be  faced  again  and  again  —  namely,  to  determine 
what  reserve  should  be  kept  in  a  bank,  so  that  it  may  be 
able  to  meet  its  engagements  and  to  pay  gold  for  all  the 
notes  that  are  presented.  In  Scotland  where  one  Bank 
was  started  in  1695,  and  another  in  1727,  banking  was  not 
the  monopoly  of  one  great  company,  such  as  controlled 
monetary  transactions  in  London,  and  a  large  body  of 
experience  on  this  point  was  soon  formed.  At  one  time  an 
attempt  was  made  to  render  a  sudden  run  upon  the  Bank 
of  Scotland  impossible,  by  issuing  notes  which  were  con- 
vertible, not  on  demand,  but  only  after  a  definite  interval 
had  expired.  Owing  to  this  restriction,  however,  these  notes 
were  depreciated  znd  did  not  circulate  on  the  same  terms  as 
gold,  or  as  notes  which  could  be  readily  exchanged  for  gold. 
In  another  case,  that  of  the  Bank  of  Ayr,  there  was  a  very 
considerable  over-issue  of  notes,  and  when  the  bank  failed 
through  the  dishonesty  of  a  manager,  there  was  very  wide- 
spread commercial  disaster  throughout  Scotland.  In  the 
case  of  these  Scotch  banks  there  were  ready  tests,  if  any 
miscalculation  was  made;  the  notes  either  failed  to  circulate 
at  their  nominal  value,  or  they  were  repaid  with  great  ra- 


150     Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

pidity,  through  the  ordinary  channels  of  trade,  to  the  banks 
which  had  issued  them,  and  the  general  range  of  prices  was 
not  greatly  affected  by  their  operations. 

The  Bank  of  England,  however,  was  in  a  special  position, 
as  its  notes  were  guaranteed  by  Government.  When,  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Pitt  made  repeated  demands 
for  advances  from  the  Bank,  the  governors  were  at  last 
unable  to  meet  their  notes  with  gold,  and  they  were  forced 
to  suspend  cash  payments  (1797).  When  this  occurred,  the 
ordinary  indications  with  regard  to  notes  ceased  to  operate. 
The  notes  formed  an  inconvertible  paper  currency;  their 
value  merely  depended  upon  their  scarcity,  and  their  scar- 
city depended  upon  the  wisdom  of  the  directors  in  not 
issuing  too  large  a  number.  But  the  tests  which  had  served, 
during  the  eighteenth  century,  for  judging  whether  the  issues 
were  excessive  or  the  reverse  were  no  longer  available 
(p.  152).  There  was  a  general  rise  of  nominal  prices,  but 
it  seemed  as  if  this  might  be  due  to  other  causes,  such  as 
bad  harvests  or  the  exigencies  of  war.  Though  the  Bullion 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  (18 10)  detected  the 
real  cause,  and  showed  that  there  had  been  a  depreciation 
of  the  currency  by  an  over-issue  of  inconvertible  paper 
money,  still  Parliament  and  the  nation  were  not  convinced. 
It  was  not  until  18 19  that  the  evil  was  remedied,  and  that 
the  gold  standard  was  once  more  restored  by  the  resump- 
tion of  cash  payments  on  the  part  of  the  Bank  of  England. 

102.  The  development  of  banking,  and  especially  the 
foundation  of    the  Bank  of    England,  led  to 

Loans ;  the 

Bank  rate,         somc  modification  in  the  habits  of   traders, 
and  the  Act       They   became   more   and    more    accustomed 
'  '*'*■  to  trade  on  borrowed  capital.     By  means  of 

their  credit  in  the  commercial  world,  they  were  able  to 
obtain  loans  from  bankers,  and  to  carry  on  business  on  a 


VII.]  Money,   Credit,  and  Finance.  151 

far  larger  scale  than  would  have  been  possible  had  they 
been  limited  to  their  own  capital.  Their  credit  enabled 
them  to  procure  capital;  and  the  development  of  this  credit 
system  gave  great  opportunities  for  the  expansion  of  trade. 
In  the  earlier  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the 
financial  power  of  credit  was  generally  recognised,  people 
were  inclined  to  exaggerate  its  importance,  and  to  regard  it 
as  a  substitute  for  capital.  But  the  credit  of  a  trading  com- 
pany is  not  capital;  and  unless  it  is  so  used  as  to  procure 
the  use  of  capital  by  borrowing,  it  does  not  really  help  to 
expand  a  business  largely.  The  directors  of  the  East  India 
Company  and  of  the  South  Sea  Company  were  guilty  of 
blunders  in  this  matter.  They  expended  their  capital  in 
procuring  political  advantages,  and  then  got  into  difficulties 
through  want  of  sufificient  means  to  carry  on  their  com- 
mercial undertakings. 

As  time  went  on,  however,  larger  masses  of  capital  were 
formed,  and  commercial  men  began  to  count  on  being  able 
to  borrow  money  from  the  Bank  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
business.  When  trade  was  going  badly,  the  Bank  was  ac- 
customed to  raise  the  rate  at  which  it  granted  accommodation 
to  traders;  if  this  was  done  gradually,  the  Bank  was  able 
to  avoid  making  new  loans  and  thus  to  strengthen  its  own 
financial  position,  without  giving  any  shock  to  credit  in 
commercial  circles  generally.  The  raising  of  the  rate  tended 
to  make  prices  in  England  fall,  and  thus  to  encourage  ex- 
ports and  diminish  imports  while  it  also  tended  to  induce 
foreigners  to  send  money  to  this  country  for  investment  at 
the  higher  rate  of  interest  procurable.  Thus,  in  more  ways 
than  one,  the  raising  of  the  Bank  rate  tended  to  bring  about 
a  favourable  state  of  the  exchanges,  and  a  flow  of  gold  to 
this  country  which  would,  sooner  or  later,  find  its  way  to  the 
coffers  of  the  Bank.     It  could  thus  strengthen  its  position 


152     Outlines  of  English  Indjistrial  History.    [Chap. 

and  proceed  to  lend  money  on  easier  terms  once  more. 
The  Bank  was  so  well  managed  that  in  1763,  when  the 
Hamburgh  banks  failed  and  there  was  widespread  disaster 
on  the  Continent,  the  crisis  did  not  extend  to  England. 
Similar  good  fortune  attended  their  proceedings  in  1782. 
In  1797,  however,  when  Pitt  borrowed  so  largely,  the  Bank 
rate  was  raised  very  suddenly,  and  was  practically  pro- 
hibitive to  merchants  who  hoped  to  get  the  usual  accom- 
modation. The  scare,  caused  by  this  action  on  the  part  of 
the  Bank  at  a  time  of  general  commercial  anxiety,  augmented 
the  evil,  and  very  serious  results  followed  in  the  City  from 
a  course  which,  at  this  distance  of  time,  it  is  not  easy  to 
defend. 

During  the  period  when  cash  payments  were  suspended 
and  the  currency  was  partly  depreciated,  the  Bank  directors 
were  unable  to  avail  themselves  of  the  indications  given  by 
the  exchanges,  and  to  control  the  state  of  credit  in  the  City. 
But  it  was  a  disappointment  that  when  cash  payments  were 
resumed,  there  was  not  the  success  which  had  been  hoped 
for  in  avoiding  financial  trouble.  There  was  a  very  bad 
crisis  in  1825,  and  nearly  twenty  years  later  it  was  thought 
necessary  to  reconstitute  the  powers  of  the  Bank  of  England, 
by  what  was  known  as  the  Bank  Charter  Act  (1844).  By 
this,  the  department  of  the  Bank  which  issues  notes  was 
absolutely  severed  from  that  which  makes  advances  and 
carries  on  ordinary  banking  business.  In  this  way  an 
attempt  was  made  to  separate  the  difficulties  connected 
with  the  currency  from  those  which  arise  through  the 
fluctuations  of  commercial  credit.  The  critics  of  the  Act 
have  complained  less  of  what  it  has  done  than  of  what  it 
has  left  undone.  It  has  been  held  by  many  that  the 
expedients  requisite  under  the  Act  may  sometimes  lead  to 
such  precipitate  action  as  to  aggravate  an  impending  crisis, 


vii.]  Money,   Credit,  and  Finattce.  153 

and  to  diminish  the  subsequent  power  of  the  Bank  to  grant 
needed  assistance.  Other  critics  are  doubtful  whether,  con- 
sidering the  scale  on  which  business  is  now  done,  there  is 
anything  like  a  sufificient  reserve  to  render  the  Bank  as  safe 
as  it  is  habitually  supposed  to  be.  The  impression  that 
the  Government  will  somehow  see  it  through  any  period  of 
disaster  gives  it  a  status  which  may  enable  it  to  maintain 
the  credit  system  of  the  country  on  a  far  smaller  basis  of 
cash  than  would  otherwise  be  possible. 

103.     All  these  facilities  for  currency  and  finance  were 
only  gradually  utilised  by  the  Government  for   payment  in 
public  purposes.     In  the  time  of  the  Norman   kind  and  by 

k,i  •  i.       r    ii        /"I  service.     Arbi- 

ings  the  mam  support  of   the  Crown  came   ^ 

°  i  i  trary  and 

in  kind  from  the  royal  estates  (§  24);  the  casual  taxa- 
king  lived  'of  his  own,'  and  much  of  his  own  *'°"" 
would  be  stored  for  the  use  of  his  household  as  he  travelled 
from  one  estate  to  another.  Even  the  taxes  which  were  paid 
into  the  Exchequer  seem  to  have  been  sometimes  paid  in 
kind,  as  late  as  the  time  of  Henry  I;  and  when  we  remem- 
ber that  the  king  relied  for  his  army  on  personal  services 
rather  than  on  paid  forces,  we  see  that  money  entered  to  a 
comparatively  small  extent  into  the  finances  of  the  realm. 
The  same  holds  true  at  first  of  other  demands  and  of  taxes 
on  trade.  The  king  had  a  recognised  right  to  obtain  certain 
commodities  for  his  personal  needs  and  those  of  his  house- 
hold, and  to  receive  a  share  of  the  imports  and  exports. 
It  was  a  real  protection  to  the  subjects  when  these  rights 
ceased  to  be  arbitrary  and  became  definite.  Thus  the  practice 
of  caption  gave  place  to  a  recognised  privilege  oi p7-e-emptio7i 
by  the  king's  purveyors,  though,  even  as  late  as  the  time  of 
the  Long  Parliament,  there  were  many  grievances  resulting 
from  the  manner  in  which  they  exercised  their  powers.  It 
was  also  a  real  boon  when  the  customs  came  to  be  taken 


154     Outlines  of  English  bidiistrial  History.    [Chap. 

at  understood  and  definite  rates,  when  the  prise  of  wine 
was  limited,  and  excessive  tolls  (malse  toltse)  on  wool  were 
given  up.  In  the  last  case  a  rate  defined  in  money  set  the 
limit  to  arbitrary  demands :  this  was  a  great  boon  to  traders, 
for  the  effect  of  arbitrary  taxation  on  trade  is  most  preju- 
dicial. 

With  the  growth  of  Parliament  under  Edward  I  and 
Edward  II  the  Commons  obtained  the  power  of  stopping 
that  arbitrary  taxation  against  which  their  forefathers  had 
protested  in  Magna  Carta.  In  Norman  and  Plantagenet 
times  taxation  on  land  and  on  personal  possessions  (iiSi) 
was  levied  in  money,  and  was  casual  in  incidence  rather 
than  arbitrary  in  amount.  Different  tenants  held  by  differ- 
ent tenures,  and  the  royal  demands  came  upon  them  in 
different  forms  and  on  different  occasions.  In  some  years 
there  might  be  demands  of  aids  from  tenants  on  the  royal 
demesne;  sometimes  there  would  be  a  scutage ;  sometimes 
the  towns  were  tallaged,  while  Henry  III  and  Edward  I  oc- 
casionally obtained  the  right  to  share  in  the  spiritual  taxa- 
tion which  usually  went  to  the  Pope.  Though  taxation  in 
the  time  of  Henry  III  was  very  frequent  and  very  heavy, 
there  were  no  two  consecutive  years  in  which  similar  pay- 
ments were  made  by  similar  persons.  The  occasional  and 
haphazard  nature  of  taxation  must  have  rendered  it  very 
inconvenient  to  many  of  those  who  were  called  upon  to 
pay;  indeed,  at  this  stage,  it  illustrates  some  of  the  evils  of 
a  money  economy,  for  these  irregular  demands  gave  great 
opportunity  for  the  operations  of  Jews  and  other  money- 
lenders. Hence  it  is  not  surprising  that  when  the  machinery 
for  collecting  taxation  came  to  be  organised  in  Parliament, 
special  care  was  taken  to  render  taxation  regular  so  far  as 
might  be.  The  taxes  which  were  voted  were  still  occasional, 
but  they  were  taken  as  far  as  possible  at 'a  regular  rate,  and 


vii.]  Money,   Credit,  and  Finajice.  155 

causes  of  dispute  as  to  what  each  man  ought  to  pay  were 
greatly  reduced.  The  most  striking  inequalities  in  English 
taxation  in  later  times  seem  to  have  arisen  from  the  instinct 
of  maintaining  regularity  at  any  cost  and  of  clinging  to  the 
fiscal  arrangements  once  made,  even  when  the  circumstances 
for  which  they  were  originally  devised  have  wholly  altered. 

104.     One  striking  illustration  of  this  tendency  to  prefer 
a  fiixed  money  payment  to  variable  demands 
may  be  found  in  the  great  financial  agreement    fifteenths! 
of  1334.     The  taxation  of  moveables  before     The  Tudor 
this  time  had  been  made  by  means  of  assess- 
ments of  the  actual  possessions  of  the  persons  taxed.     In 
some  cases  these  had  granted  exemption  for  the  stock  and 
tools  of   the  labourer;  in  others  the  tax  had  been  levied 
more  exhaustively.     In  some  cases  taxation  had  been  levied 
at  one  fractional  part  and  sometimes  at  another,  but  in  1334 
itwas  determined  that  the  king's  commissioners  should  agree 
on  a  composition  which  each  town  or  village  should  pay,  as 
the  equivalent  of  a  tenth  on  moveables  within  the  towns, 
and  a  fifteenth  on  the  counties.     The    terms    teiith    and 
fifteenth  henceforward  meant  a  sum  of  about  ^39,000,  and 
when  Parliament  voted  two  or  more  tenths  and  fifteenths 
there  was  an  understood  sum  which  each  district  was  called 
upon  to  pay. 

This  arrangement  lasted  until  the  reign  of  James  I, 
but  long  before  that  time  various  difficulties  had  arisen. 
Some  parts  of  the  country  decayed  and  were  unable  to  pay 
their  quotas,  while  other  districts  prospered  without  having 
to  pay  any  additional  charges.  Towards  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  in  particular,  we  read  of  many  towns 
which  obtained  exemption.  Sometimes  a  total  of  four 
thousand  pounds  and  sometimes  no  less  than  six  thousand 
were  remitted.     Still  the  expenses  of  government  were  apt 


1 56     Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

to  expand;  and,  while  these  remissions  were  being  made, 
there  was  need  of  extra  assistance  in  emergencies,  such  as 
occasioned  the  celebrated  poll-taxes  of  1377  and  1381;  while 
the  defence  of  land  and  sea  imposed  duties  on  the  Crown 
which  it  was  not  easy  to  fulfil.  Convoy  money  was  taken 
from  certain  ships,  and  attempts  were  made  to  organise 
some  defence  for  the  coasts.  But  these  things  hardly 
affected  the  general  taxation  of  the  country,  as  the  revenue 
was  levied,  so  far  as  possible,  from  those  who  benefited 
directly  by  the  new  arrangements.  It  is  extraordinary, 
too,  to  see  how  large  a  field,  covered  now-a-days  by  regular 
government  organisation,  was  then  left  to  private  munifi- 
cence. The  maintenance  of  roads  and  bridges  was  but 
little  attended  to  except  when  it  was  undertaken  by  the 
charitable  and  the  pious.  Even  the  burden  of  defending 
the  realm  against  the  Spanish  Armada  was  largely  borne  by 
loyal  subjects,  who  voluntarily  came  to  the  aid  of  their 
queen.  This  personal  sentiment  of  loyalty  and  willingness 
to  make  voluntary  sacrifices  was  shown  for  the  last  time 
in  the  Civil  War,  as  it  was  an  important  element  in  the 
equipment  of  the  army  of  Charles  I. 

Under  Henry  VIII  a  serious  effort  was  made  to  read- 
just the  fiscal  system  of  the  country  to  the  condition  of  its 
material  prosperity.  The  tenths  and  fifteenths  were  supple- 
mented by  a  general  subsidy  of  /^s.  in  the  pound  on  the 
yearly  value  of  land  and  2s.  d>d.  in  the  pound  on  personal 
property.  Those  who  came  under  this  denomination  were 
known  as  'subsidy  men  ' ;  after  its  imposition  in  1514  there 
was  no  real  attempt  at  subsequent  modification,  although  a 
fresh  assessment  was  made  each  time.  A  subsidy  came  to 
be  a  fixed  expression  for  a  sum  of  nearly  ^100,000,  and 
the  proportions,  which  each  had  to  pay,  merely  followed  the 
original  levy  of  the  tax. 


VII.]  Money,  Credit,  and  Finance.  1 57 

105.  The  fall  in  the  value  of  silver  during  the  sixteenth 
century  had  serious  effects  in  a  state  which  Financial 
had  so  completely  adopted  a  money  eco-  difficulties  of 
noray.  The  change  affected  all  who  lived  on 
fixed  incomes,  as  many  landowners  did;  in  so  far  as  they 
were  unable  to  raise  their  rents,  they  received  the  same 
money  as  before,  while  they  had  to  purchase  all  that 
they  required  at  much  higher  rates.  If  ordinary  landowners 
felt  this  severely,  the  difficulty  fell  with  special  force  upon 
the  Crown.  The  revenues  from  Crown  lands  could  not  be 
increased  rapidly,  and  there  was  difficulty  in  procuring  ad- 
ditional resources  from  taxation.  It  was  becoming  obvious 
that  taxation  must  afford  the  regular  source  of  national 
income  not  only  in  emergencies,  as  hitherto,  but  in  ordinary 
times.  Elizabeth  was  ingenious  and  parsimonious  enough 
to  evade  the  difficulty,  and  the  whole  task  of  reconstituting 
national  finance  in  accordance  with  the  necessities  of 
the  times  was  still  undone  when  the  Stuarts  succeeded  to 
the  Crown.  Their  financial  difficulties  may  have  been  in- 
creased through  their  own  mistakes,  and  through  the  folly 
of  some  of  their  agents,  but  many  of  their  difficulties  were 
inevitable.  The  Tudor  kings  and  their  courtiers  had  wasted 
much  of  the  ancient  heritage  of  the  Crown,  while  the  new 
conditions  of  European  politics  and  the  place  which  England 
was  taking,  as  an  important  power  in  Europe,  made  it  neces- 
sary that  she  should  have  a  navy,  and  that  the  royal  treasury 
should  be  replenished.  While  there  was  a  real  plea  of 
necessity  for  much  that  Charles  aimed  at,  there  was  also 
an  excuse  for  discontent.  The  purchasing  power  of  money 
had  fallen,  but  the  sums  which  Charles  I  obtained  were 
nominally  very  large,  and  the  non-success,  for  which  lack  of 
resources  was  partly  to  blame,  appeared  to  show  that  he  and 
his  ministers  were  utterly  incompetent.      Between  the  real 


158     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

needs  of  the  Government  and  the  apparent  mismanagement 
of  the  Crown  officers  the  financial  position  became  more  and 
more  strained,  and  was  one  of  the  most  important  elements 
in  the  quarrel  which  gradually  widened  into  a  Civil  War. 
The  most  important  financial  expedient  at  which  Charles  I 
aimed  was  that  of  somehow  or  other  introducing  an  excise, 
or  tax  on  goods  produced  and  consumed  within  the  country. 
It  was  easy  to  see  that  some  such  expedient  as  this  would 
be  very  profitable.  Each  consumer  might  pay  very  little, 
but  the  total  revenue  to  the  Crown  would  be  very  large. 
Strafford  endeavoured  to  do  something  of  the  sort  in  Ireland 
by  means  of  a  salt  tax;  and  if  the  monopoly  in  soap  had 
been  carried  through,  as  it  was  designed,  Charles  would 
have  practically  secured  an  excise  on  this  commodity.  But 
the  strength  of  public  opinion  was  too  great  to  allow 
of  his  even  attempting  to  procure  a  revenue  by  avowedly 
imposing  an  excise,  and  he  had  no  success  in  the 
indirect  efforts  with  which  he  attempted  to  attain  this 
object. 

The  attempt  to  impose  an  excise  was  due  to  a  states- 
manlike effort  to  distribute  the  burden  of  taxation  over  the 
community  generally,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  fall  entirely 
on  certain  classes.  Throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  there 
must  have  been  large  sections  of  the  population  who  contri- 
buted little,  if  at  all,  to  the  national  revenue.  The  tenths 
and  fifteenths,  and  the  Tudor  subsidies  practically  fell  upon 
landowners  and  upon  householders  in  towns.  Imported 
commodities  were  of  the  nature  of  luxuries,  and  those  who 
did  not  consume  them  were  unaffected  by  the  rates  at  which 
they  were  charged.  Of  the  labouring  classes  generally  it 
would  appear  that  the  pressure  of  taxation  hardly  touched 
them  at  all.  The  excise  was  approved  as  an  expedient 
for  distributing  the  burden  of  taxation  as  widely  as  possible. 


VII.]  Money,   Credit,  and  Fina7icc.  159 

but  Charles  I  failed  to  secure  it,  and  it  was  left  to  those  who 
defeated  him  to  carry  out  this  project. 

106.  The  Parliamentary  party  were  forced  to  raise 
money  for  the  support  of  their  army,  and  in  ^^^x\^^^nX2.ry 
this  emergency  adopted  financial  methods,  and  Restora- 
which  had  been  tried  by  the  Dutch  and  ap-  "°"  *^"^""- 
proved  by  their  experience.  They  levied  monthly  assess- 
ments from  the  landowners,  or  from  tenants  who  could 
recover  the  amount  from  their  landowners,  and  they  also 
introduced  an  excise  on  beer.  The  measure  was  very  un- 
popular, but  it  was  very  profitable;  and,  when  once  intro- 
duced, it  became  a  permanent  source  of  revenue.  The 
successful  organisation  of  the  Post-Office  as  a  money-making 
concern  dates  from  the  same  period;  and  these  two  expe- 
dients were  retained  and  perpetuated,  when  the  whole 
financial  system  of  the  country  was  reconstituted  at  the 
Restoration.  The  new  system  followed  the  lines  of  the 
temporary  methods  of  the  Parliamentary  party,  and  did  not 
revert  to  the  ancient  methods  which  had  continued  in  vogue 
until  the  fall  of  Charles  I. 

The  Restoration  Parliament  was  the  first  body  which 
accepted  the  new  order  deliberately,  and  set  about  pro- 
viding for  the  regular  and  ordinary  expenses  of  the  Crpwn  by 
means  of  taxation.  This  would  have  been  a  difficult  ques- 
tion at  any  time,  but  under  the  special  circumstances  of  the 
moment,  when  the  country  was  suffering  from  the  effects  of 
the  war  and  from  a  famine  of  unexampled  severity,  it  was 
no  easy  matter  to  devise  expedients  for  raising  a  suitable 
revenue.  They  endeavoured  to  provide  a  regular  income  of 
^1,200,000;  of  this  over  ^100,000  was  raised  by  granting 
a  hereditary  excise,  which  was  given  in  lieu  of  the  money 
accruing  to  the  Crown  from  feudal  incidents  like  wardship 
and  livery, while  the  claims  from  purveyance  and  pre-emption 


i6o     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

were  also  to  be  surrendered.  All  the  advantages  of  this  bar- 
gain lay  with  the  landowners  and  especially  with  the  tenants 
of  ancient  demesne,  while  the  excise  fell  on  the  public  at 
large,  and  the  justice  of  an  arrangement  by  which  the  burdens 
of  the  land  were  thrown  upon  the  general  consumer  has 
been  much  criticised.  It  is  probable  that  little  was  thought 
of  it  at  the  time.  Public  opinion  had  become  accustomed 
to  an  excise,  and  there  was  less  inconvenience  in  perpetu- 
ating the  existing  system  than  in  trying  to  raise  a  much 
larger  revenue  by  the  direct  taxation  of  the  land.  In  levying 
taxes  from  the  land,  they  were  also  careful  to  maintain 
the  existing  arrangements.  The  inequality  with  which  the 
land-tax  was  levied  in  the  home  counties,  as  compared  with 
the  outlying  counties,  serves  to  reflect  the  difificulty  felt  by 
the  Parliamentary  party  in  collecting  revenue  from  the 
royalist  districts  at  the  period  when  they  imposed  the  tax. 
But  curiously  unfair  as  it  was,  it  affords  another  illustration  of 
the  English  preference  for  paying  at  a  known  rate,  rather 
than  for  introducing  a  method  which,  by  being  more  flexible, 
should  be  less  regular  and  more  fair.  The  Restoration 
Parliament  had  probably  but  little  thought  of  abstract 
justice,  and  were  chiefly  concerned  with  the  possibility  of 
colleciing  a  revenue  at  all.  By  maintaining  the  de  facto 
system,  however,  they  avoided  the  evil  which  arises  from 
changes  in  the  method  of  taxation,  and  by  distributing  the 
burden  widely  they  were  able  to  build  on  a  firm  basis  a 
revenue  system  by  which  the  ordinary  expenses  of  govern- 
ment should  be  regularly  defrayed  out  of  taxation. 

107.     So  far  we  have  reviewed  the  changes  in  the  fiscal 
D  ■ ,.   .  svstem  which  followed  the  introduction  of  a 

Public  bor- 
rowing.   The     money    economy   in    matters    of    state.     The 

^^'^^-  development  of    credit  was   also    important. 

Few  English  kings  have  been  able  to  keep  out  of  debt, 


VII.]  Money,   Credit,  ajid  Finance.  i6l 

and  some,  like  Edward  III,  have  broken  faith  with  theii 
creditors.  When  Charles  I  borrowed  to  pay  the  Scotch  army 
in  1641,  he  was  compelled  to  do  so  on  the  joint  security  of 
Parliament  and  himself,  and  thus  incidentally  forfeited  the 
power  of  dissolving  Parliament  without  its  consent.  In 
the  post-Restoration  time,  public  borrowing  came  to  be 
part  of  the  regular  methods  of  finance  and  was  no  longer 
resorted  to  merely  on  emergencies.  The  Government  was 
accustomed  to  borrow  money  from  goldsmiths  on  the  assign- 
ment of  grants  which  were  already  voted,  but  had  not  been 
collected,  and  the  goldsmiths  could  count  on  the  early 
repayment  of  their  loans,  as  soon  as  the  taxes  came  in.  In 
1670,  however,  Charles  II  endeavoured  to  retain  this  money 
in  his  own  hands,  by  stopping  the  payments  out  of  the 
Exchequer  which  were  due  to  the  goldsmiths.  By  this 
breach  of  faith  he  caused  much  consternation  in  the  City, 
and  many  of  the  public,  whose  deposits  had  been  lent  to  the 
Crown,  were  also  sufferers.  A  certain  amount  of  interest 
was  paid  to  these  creditors,  but  the  principal  was  never  re- 
stored, and  came  in  time  to  form  the  nucleus  of  the  National 
Debt. 

The  National  Debt,  as  a  regular  institution,  may  be  said 
to  date  from  the  time  of  William  III.  He  was  engaged  in 
a  lifelong  struggle  with  Louis  XIV,  and  was  ready  to  strain 
every  nerve  to  carry  it  on.  The  Bank  of  England  was  a 
scheme  which  was  hastily  floated  at  the  end  of  a  session, 
when  other  financial  projects  had  fallen  through.  It  was  not 
very  favourably  received  in  Parliament,  but  was  eagerly 
taken  up  in  the  City,  and  the  full  amount  required  was  soon 
subscribed.  William  III  obtained  ^1,200,000  to  use  at 
once  in  the  war,  while  he  only  had  to  raise  ^100,000  by 
taxation.  He  also  obtained  an  immense  political  advantage 
by  cementing  the  adhesion  of  the  monied  classes  who  sub- 

M 


1 62     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

scribed  to  the  Bank.  The  subscribers  obtained  regular 
interest  in  perpetuity  for  their  money.  This  was  secured  to 
them  on  the  credit  of  the  Government,  and  by  the  assign- 
ment of  the  income  from  a  tax  on  the  tonnage  of  ships. 
They  also  had  a  monopoly  in  conducting  banking  business, 
and  from  the  first  they  prospered  greatly.  But  the  success 
of  this  expedient  was  dangerous.  The  Government  were 
tempted,  again  and  again,  to  negociate  large  loans  from 
companies  to  which  special  trading  privileges  were  con- 
ceded. The  conflict  between  the  old  and  the  new  East 
India  Company  (p.  ii6)  and  the  subsequent  history  of  the 
South  Sea  Company  have  sufhciently  put  on  record  the  wild 
character  of  much  of  the  finance  of  this  time. 

1 08.     With  the  beginning  of  the  Georgian  era  there  was 
less  immediate  need  for  meeting  special  emer- 

The  inci-  .  .  ,  .    ^        , .  . 

denceand  gcncics,  and  attention  was  chiefly  directed  to 
pressure  of  possible  expedients  for  paying  off  the  debt. 
The  pressure  of  interest,  along  with  the  ex- 
penses of  government,  made  it  by  no  means  easy  to  raise 
sufficient  revenue,  and  Walpole's  peace  policy  was  probably 
dictated  by  a  desire  to  improve  financial  conditions.  There 
was  a  steady  increase  of  national  resources,  but  at  the  same 
time  this  was  so  slow  that  there  was  real  difficulty  in  pro- 
curing the  necessary  revenue,  and  it  seemed  important  to 
nurture  the  growing  wealth  of  the  country  with  extreme  care. 
It  was  consequently  under  Walpole  (1721-42)  that  the 
whole  taxation  of  the  country  was  recast  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  of  the  mercantile  system.  By  the  introduction 
of  bonded  warehouses,  he  helped  to  make  England  a  depot 
for  the  carrying  trade,  and  by  systematising  the  duties  levied 
on  foreign  manufactures  and  the  bounties  given  on  native 
products,  he  endeavoured  to  institute  such  tariff  arrange- 
ments as  should  contribute  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the 


VII.]  Money,   Credit ,  and  Finance.  163 

country.  The  principles  had  been  laid  down  long  before, 
but  it  was  only  under  Walpole  that  they  were  consistently 
put  into  practice.  As  has  been  pointed  out  above  (p.  132), 
there  are  grave  reasons  for  doubting  the  wisdom  of  the  best 
intentioned  methods  for  directing  and  fostering  national 
industry.  What  with  the  industries  that  were  hampered, 
the  opportunities  that  were  given  for  fraud,  and  the  unsuit- 
able trades  that  were  galvanised  into  life,  the  benefit  which 
was  believed  to  accrue  through  Sir  Robert  Walpole 's  well- 
meant  efforts  must  have  been  greatly  frittered  away.  At  the 
same  time  it  must  be  remembered  that,  whether  through  his 
arrangements  or  in  spite  of  them,  the  country  steadily  pros- 
pered on  all  sides  of  its  economic  life  under  the  regime 
which  he  systeraatised.  He  was  the  first  English  statesman 
who  took  carefully  into  account  the  incidence  of  taxation 
with  a  view  to  obtaining  a  definite  national  object  and  not 
merely  for  the  sake  of  revenue  purposes. 

This  was  a  principle  against  which  Adam  Smith  made  an 
effective  protest;  he  did  not  think  taxation  should  be  used  to 
promote  any  commercial  object.  He  had  had  opportunities 
in  France  of  investigating  the  fiscal  systems  of  different 
countries,  and  he  applied  economic  doctrine  to  the  problems 
of  the  incidence  and  methods  of  taxation  much  better  than 
had  been  done  by  previous  writers.  Under  his  influence 
North  introduced  the  succession  duty,  and  the  effect  of 
the  Wealth  of  Nations,  published  in  1776,  was  much  more 
clearly  seen  when  Pitt  came  into  power  (1783).  This  min- 
ister carefully  followed  Adam  Smith's  views  as  to  the  inci- 
dence of  taxation,  and  endeavoured  to  distribute  the  burdens 
so  that  they  should  fall  as  lightly  as  possible  on  the  poorer 
classes.  This  was  apparent  both  in  the  remissions  made  in 
the  earlier  part  of  his  career,  and  in  the  mode  in  which  he 
imposed  heavy  taxation  at  the  beginning  of  this  century. 


164     Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

His  great  expedient  was  a  Triple  Assessment,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  the  forerunner  of  the  income-tax.  His  borrow- 
ing was  reckless  in  the  extreme.  When  Government  credit 
was  becoming  exhausted  he  did  not  borrow  at  high  rates,  but 
accepted  sums  of  jQZq  or  £^<^o  as  the  equivalent  of  ;;/^ioo  of 
stock  borrowed  at  relatively  low  interest.  In  this  way  he 
burdened  the  nation  with  a  large  nominal  debt  which,  just 
because  it  was  running  at  low  interest,  could  not  be  readily 
extinguished  by  subsequent  loans.  But  though  his  action 
was  reckless  he  had  considerable  success  in  lightening  the 
burden  of  taxation  for  the  community  at  large. 

His  work  in  this  respect  was  carried  on  by  Huskisson 
and  Peel.  They  were  interested  in  reducing  the  pressure  of 
taxation  on  the  poor,  while  they  also  believed  that  by  light- 
ening the  burden  of  taxation  the  general  prosperity  of  the 
country  would  be  greatly  increased.  The  very  motives, 
which  had  led  Walpole  to  construct  a  complicated  system 
of  duties  and  bounties,  weighed  with  financiers  a  century 
later  in  their  efforts  to  remove  them.  It  seemed  to  be  a 
risky  experiment.  The  country  was  suffering  from  depressed 
trade,  and  it  was  difficult  to  make  both  ends  meet,  but,  not- 
withstanding, the  tariff  reforms  were  carried  through.  Peel 
was  careful  to  impose  some  temporary  tax,  which  might 
serve  as  a  source  of  revenue  until  his  remissions  had  time 
to  stimulate  trade,  and  to  bring  in  a  larger  revenue  at  the 
lower  rates.  In  his  general  scheme  he  was  singularly  suc- 
cessful. There  was  a  rapid  expansion  of  industry,  which 
was  felt  all  the  more  clearly  when  the  free  trade  experiment 
reached  its  culmination  in  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws 
(1846).  Since  his  experiments  have  been  thus  completely 
justified  by  success,  it  seems  unnecessary  to  recall  the 
criticism  to  which  they  have  been  subjected;  it  must,  how- 
ever, be  remembered  that  progress  was  already  being  made 


VII.]  Money,   Credit,  and  Finn  nee.  165 

towards  very  general  free  trade  by  means  of  commercial 
treaties,  and  that,  though  the  sudden  adoption  of  free  trade 
gave  us  a  great  advantage  for  the  time,  we  have  lost  the 
means  of  bargaining  with  other  states,  so  as  to  prevent 
them  from  imposing  hostile  tariffs  against  ourselves. 

109.     There  is  no  serious  proposal  to  return  to  a  condi- 
tion of  barter  in  ordinary  transactions,   and 

1  1  1       1  1  I  1       •         •  "^he  advan- 

there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  substitution  taggg  of  a 
of  money  finance  for  payments  in  kind  to  money  eco- 
the  Crown  and  personal  service  is  advan-  ™'^' 
tageous  in  many  ways.  The  burden  of  taxation  is  more 
precisely  known,  it  is  more  regular,  it  is  more  widely  distrib- 
uted, and  it  is  more  adjustable;  there  is  a  real  benefit  in 
many  directions,  especially  where  industry  and  trade  are 
concerned.  To  a  very  great  extent  these  generally  recog- 
nised advantages  in  national  affairs  are  typical  of  benefits 
which  have  ensued  in  other  departments  of  life  from  similar 
changes.  The  man  who  works  in  definite  hours  for  specified 
wages  may  have  a  hard  life,  but  his  obligations  are  more 
certain  and  his  reward  is  better  defined  than  in  the  case 
of  the  slave  or  the  serf  (§  125).  Close  bargaining  and 
competition  give  opportunities  to  the  man  of  energy  and 
enterprise;  they  appear  under  some  conditions  to  be  unfa- 
vourable to  the  well-being  of  the  weak  and  the  ignorant. 
But  at  least  under  a  money  system,  we  may  have  definite 
statements  as  to  the  condition  and  resources  of  those  who 
are  worst  off,  while  under  a  more  primitive  economy  the 
details  cannot  be  clearly  and  precisely  put  forward.  To 
know  the  extent  and  the  nature  of  evils  is  one  step  towards 
finding  a  remedy,  and  the  substitution  of  a  money  for  a 
natural  economy  gives  us  the  means  of  acquiring  such 
knowledge. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

AGRICULTURE. 

1 10.     In  no  single  art  is  it  more  easy  to  trace  the  course 

of  progress  than  in  one  which,  like  tillage,  has 

X  ensive  been  assiduously  practised  from  the  earliest 

cultivation.  -"     '■ 

times. 
The  most  primitive  sort  of  agriculture  is  that  known 
as  extensive  culture  — •  a  system  which  can  only  be  prac- 
tised by  a  people  with  a  very  large  area  at  their  disposal. 
Each  year  they  clear  and  till  a  space  sufficiently  large  to 
raise  the  necessary  crops,  or  as  much  as  may  be  possible 
with  the  stock  and  seed  at  their  disposal.  In  some  parts  of 
the  world,  as  for  example  in  certain  parts  of  India,  where 
this  method  is  still  pursued,  the  ground  is  cleared  by 
burning  the  coarse  grass  and  brushwood  which  cumbers  it, 
and  the  ashes  supply  a  useful  ingredient  to  the  soil  during 
the  year  it  is  under  crop.  When  the  harvest  is  over,  the 
land  is  simply  left  idle.  In  the  immediately  succeeding 
years,  other  tracts  are  cropped  in  turn,  until  after  an  interval 
of  several  seasons  necessity  compels  the  use  of  a  portion 
which  has,  at  some  earlier  time,  been  under  tillage.  If  eight 
or  nine  years  elapse  before  it  is  necessary  to  revert  to  the 
same  soil,  the  land  has  so  much  time  to  recover  that  the 
process  may  be  carried  on  almost  indefinitely  without  ex- 
haustion. 

1 66 


Chap,  viii.]  Agriculture.  '  167 

This  extensive  system  of  cultivation  is  very  adaptable. 
It  may  be  used  by  nomads,  who  have  no  settled  habitations, 
but  who  are  able  to  linger  at  some  point  in  their  wanderings 
while  a  crop  is  being  taken.  It  is  possible  even  for  a  sea- 
faring people  to  linger  for  some  months  on  shore  and 
re-victual  their  ships  from  crops  they  have  raised.  This 
the  Phoenicians  did  in  their  great  voyage  round  Africa,  and 
the  Danes  in  Northumbria  resorted  to  a  similar  expedient. 
It  is  the  simplest  and  least  laborious  system,  and  may  be 
retained  for  many  generations  by  a  people  who  have  defi- 
nitely settled  down;  while  it  may  also  be  practised  as  a 
means  of  supplementing  their  resources  by  men  who  are 
acquainted  with,  and  habitually  use,  more  arduous  methods 
of  tillage.  In  this  way  it  survived  in  Aberdeenshire  at 
the  end  of  the  last  century;  there  the  out-town  lands  were 
cultivated  extensively,  while  a  much  higher  system  of  farm- 
ing was  adopted  on  the  in-town  fields. 

If,  however,  the  area  at  the  disposal  of  a  family,  or  group 
of  families,  is  so  restricted  that  they  have  to 
return  to  the  same  field  in  five  or  six  years,     intensive 

■'  cultivation.  . 

there  is  not  sufficient  time  for  the  recuperative 
powers  of  nature  to  operate,  and  the  soil  becomes  exhausted. 
We  may  speak  of  a  time,  when  the  whole  capabilities  of 
any  land  are  brought  into  play  for  arable  purposes,  by  using 
it  all  in  turn  and  as  frequently  as  it  will  bear,  as  a  point  of 
least  exhaustion.  When  this  point  is  past,  it  is  necessary  to 
resort  to  artificial  means  to  stimulate  and  reinvigorate  the 
soil,  and  with  this  we  have  the  beginning  of  intensive  culture. 
Intensive  cultivation  consists  in  replenishing  the  soil  with 
manures  or  other  fertilisers,  so  that  it  can  be  used  more 
frequently,  and  yet  not  be  exhausted.  Progress  in  agricul- 
tural skill  enables  men  to  wring  from  the  land  six  or  seven 
times  as  much  crop  as  they  could  by  primitive  methods. 


1 68     0/itliucs*of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

They  can  get  something  from  it  every  year,  and  yet  the 
land  is  not  worn  out.  It  is  ahvays  assumed  that  a  tenant 
farmer  will  return  the  land  to  the  landlord  at  the  expiration 
of  his  lease  in  good  condition.  The  problem  for  the  agri- 
culturist is  to  arrange  his  business  so  that  he  can  regularly 
and  habitually  get  as  much  as  possible  from  the  land, 
without  exhausting  it.  If  he  is  to  get  a  great  deal  out  of  it, 
he  will  have  to  put  a  great  deal  into  it.  Much  more  labour 
must  be  expended  in  carrying  and  spreading  manure  and 
in  deeper  ploughing,  on  even  the  simplest  system  of  in- 
tensive farming,  than  is  needed  when  the  land  is  tilled 
extensively. 

III.  When  this  is  recognised,  we  can  grasp  more  clearly 
Diminishing  the  general  course  which  agricultural  improve- 
returns.  mcnt  has  taken.     When  once  intensive  cultiva- 

tion is  adopted,  if  it  is  necessary  to  get  more  out  of  the  soil, 
more  must  be  put  into  it.  More  can  always  be  got  out  of 
it,  but  only  by  more  and  more  arduous  or  expensive  opera- 
tions. Hence  has  been  formulated  a  principle  which  is 
known  as  the  law  of  diminishing  returns.  It  holds  true  of 
any  place  at  any  time  when  extensive  culture  is  in  vogue. 
Each  additional  application  of  labour  (and  capital)  to  the 
land  will  give  an  additional  amount  of  crop,  but  not  at  the 
same  rate  as  before.  Each  new  effort,  be  it  a  week's  labour, 
or  ^lo  capital,  applied  this  year  in  addition  to  what  was 
applied  last,  will  be  remunerated  at  a  less  rate  than  accrued 
to  previous  efforts.  Double  the  labour  will  ensure  greatly 
increased  produce,  but  still  it  will  be  less  than  double  the 
produce  —  a  larger  amount,  but  at  a  diminished  rate. 

This  is  a  physical  principle  which  is  plainly  true  when 
Agricultural  wc  remember  that  labour  is  only  one  of  the 
improvements,  ncccssary  elements  for  the  growth  of  a  crop. 
By  doubling  the  labour,  we   do  not  double   the   sunlight 


viii.]  Agriculture.  169 

or  air;  we  only  improve  some  of  the  conditions  on  which 
growth  depends.  Other  points  must,  however,  be  noticed 
to  render  this  physical  principle  instructive  in  regard  to 
social  affairs,  or  the  history  of  human  progress.  It  only 
holds  true,  as  stated,  for  any  definite  condition  of  know- 
ledge. If  there  is  such  an  advance  in  skill  that  men  under- 
stand better  how  to  avoid  the  exhaustion  of  the  soil,  its 
action  is  suspended  for  the  time.  The  rotation  of  crops  is 
an  expedient  by  which  land  can  be  more  constantly  used 
without  being  unduly  exhausted;  it  does  not  involve  any 
considerable  addition  to  labour  or  capital.  It  serves  to 
prevent  exhaustion,  and  improvements  of  this  type  give  a 
great  increase  to  human  powers  of  obtaining  food  from  the 
soil.  The  improvement  may  be  so  great  that  it  is  possible 
to  get  enough  food  from  a  diminished  area,  and  with  less 
labour  and  capital  than  before.  But  if  we  take  this  new 
condition  of  skill  as  a  starting-point,  the  law  of  diminishing 
return  will  again  begin  to  operate  in  farther  efforts  to  pro- 
cure additional  subsistence.  Agricultural  progress  has  been 
of  two  kinds.  There  has  been  an  advance  of  skill  in  avoid- 
ing the  exhaustion  of  the  soil,  but,  where  no  such  improve- 
ment has  occurred,  there  has  been  need  for  increased  energy 
to  make  up  for  the  exhaustion  of  the  soil,  and  to  replenish 
it.  The  improvement  in  preventing  exhaustion  has  gone  on 
so  fast,  that  it  may  be  doubted  whether  there  is  any  increase 
in  the  drudgery  of  man  and  beast^  employed  in  tillage  at 
the  present  day,  as  compared  with  that  required  to  procure 
the  far  inferior  crops  with  which  men  had  to  be  satisfied 
at  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest. 

112.     When  intensive  cultivation  has  once  come  into 
vogue,  a  farther  condition  follows.     The  good 

°       '  "^  Open  fields. 

effects  of  most  measures  will   last  for  more 

than  one  year.     The  improvement  is  not  exhausted  all  at 


170     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

once,  and  hence  it  becomes  advisable  to  use  the  same  land 
over  and  over  again,  and  not  to  vary  it,  as  it  is  natural  to 
do  on  the  extensive  system.  Instead  of  fields  which  change 
from  year  to  year,  the  family  or  village  which  uses  intensive 
culture  will  prefer  to  have  permanent  fields,  constantly  kept 
for  tillage,  even  though  there  may  be  sufficient  land  to 
enable  them  to  continue  the  old  plan  in  a  modified  form. 
As  a  consequence,  all  through  the  Middle  Ages,  there  were 
fields  in  each  village,  which  were  permanently  set  apart  for 
tillage.  They  were  laid  out  with  marks  which  were  never 
altered,  and  the  divisions  of  the  land,  occupied  by  different 
people,  consisted  of  narrow  grass  borders  or  balks,  which 
divided  each  large  field  into  a  number  of  acre  or  of  half- 
acre  strips.  These  balks  were  common  enough  a  century 
ago,  but  since  that  time  they  have  been  nearly  all  destroyed, 
and  the  few  which  remain  here  and  there  may  be  regarded 
as  curious  relics  of  a  system  which  was  once  universal.  The 
fields  were  known  as  open  fields,  because  they  had  no 
fencing,  except  during  those  periods  of  the  year  when  the 
crops  were  growing.  At  other  times  the  cattle  could  range 
without  restriction  over  the  whole  area  of  the  village,  and 
pick  up  what  they  could  get,  either  from  the  herbage 
or  the  common  waste,  or  from  the  stubble  on  the  open 
fields. 

The  open  fields  were  also  spoken  of  as  common  fields, 

although   they  were  not,  in  historical  times, 
ommon      j^^j^  j^^  conimon.     In  the  ordinary  village,  at 

the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  the  lord 
of  the  manor  would  have  a  considerable  part  of  the  fields 
cultivated  for  his  own  use  by  the  serfs,  and  the  hold- 
ings of  his  tenants  probably  all  lay  intermixed  with  his 
own  demesne  farm.  The  tenant  who  held  a  virgate  or  yard- 
land  would  occupy  some  sixty  half-acre  strips  scattered  in 


viii.]  Agriciiltii7-e.  r  7 1 

different  parts  of  the  open  fields;  but  his  virgate  consisted 
of  a  known  number  of  known  strips.  Like  the  portions  of 
meadow  land,  the  virgates  in  the  fields  were  definitely 
assigned,  and  no  part  of  the  open  fields  was  common 
property.  The  common  rights  to  use  the  fields  for  grazing 
purposes  only  began  to  operate  when  tillage  was  over  for 
the  year,  and  when  the  fields  lapsed  for  a  time  into  the 
rest  of  the  waste.  All  the  inhabitants  who  had  land  to 
cultivate  and  cattle  to  do  the  work  seem  to  have  had 
grazing  rights  on  the  common  waste.  But  though  the  fields 
were  not  held  as  common  property,  there  was,  in  all  proba- 
bility, a  great  deal  of  work  that  was  done  together  and  in 
the  same  fashion  by  the  different  owners  and  tenants  in 
each  village.  They  combined  to  supply  teams,  at  least  for 
the  lord's  land,  and  they  may  have  arranged  for  a  good  deal 
of  collective  work  among  themselves  on  the  common  plan 
which  must  have  been  adopted,  according  as  the  lands 
were  laid  out  in  two  fields  or  in  three. 

This  system  of  open  field,  with  intermixed  holdings,  or 
run-rig  as  it  is  termed  in  Scotland,  seems  to 
be  so  very  inconvenient,  that  it  is  difficult  to     Survival  of 

open  nelds. 

understand  how  it  could  have  been  adopted, 
and  why  it  should  have  been  retained.  It  possibly  had  some 
advantage  in  the  way  of  fairness,  and  the  various  pieces  of 
land,  as  regards  quality  and  exposure,  could  be  distributed 
more  equally  according  to  this  plan.  There  is  little  reason  to 
believe  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  village  were  equal  in 
status  or  wealth  at  any  known  time;  but  pains  w^ere  taken 
to  maintain  what  was  fair  and  equal  among  such  of  the 
inhabitants  as  were  on  the  same  footing.  But  apart  from 
this,  it  seems  possible  that  this  curious  arrangement  was 
first  adopted  from  motives  of  practical  convenience  and 
perpetuated  later  from  the  mere  difficulty  of  substituting 


1/2     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

anything  else.  When  the  art  of  land  surveying  was  unknown, 
and  there  were  no  definite  measures  of  area,  it  was  simplest 
to  lay  out  land  by  merely  breaking  it  up  with  the  plough, 
and  then  to  assign  an  acre  —  the  portion  ploughed  in  a  day 
—  to  each  villager  in  turn.  This  was,  undoubtedly,  the 
method  of  assignment  adopted  while  extensive  culture  was 
practised,  and  there  was  no  necessity  for  any  re-arrange- 
ment when  intensive  culture  came  into  use.  When,  during 
the  last  century,  the  disadvantages  of  the  open  field  system 
became  obvious,  tenants  were,  with  great  difficulty,  in- 
duced to  accept  any  alteration  (p.  187).  The  process  of 
enclosure  meant  the  grouping  of  their  scattered  strips  into 
separate  and  several  holdings,  but  it  was  not  an  easy  thing 
for  the  commissioners  to  re-assign  the  lands  into  holdings 
that  would  be  considered  fair  equivalents  for  the  old  lands. 
The  difficulty  felt  in  discarding  the  system  —  even  when  its 
inconveniences  were  fully  understood  —  may  partly  help  us 
to  understand  how  it  came  to  be  retained  for  so  many 
centuries. 

113.     The  fullest  information  which  we  have  as  to  the 
methods  of  cultivation  during  the  Middle  Ages 

The  two  °  ° 

field  and  Is  to  be  fouud  in  those  writings  on  husbandry, 
three  field  compiled  during  the  reign  of  Henry  III,  to 
which  allusion  has  already  been  made  (p.  37). 
Of  these  the  most  celebrated  was  due  to  Walter  of  Henley. 
The  handbook,  which  he  wrote  for  the  guidance  of  land- 
lords in  the  management  of  their  estates,  is  most  useful  in 
helping  us  to  picture  agricultural  conditions  that  have  long 
since  passed  away.  He  institutes  a  comparison  as  to  the 
work  which  had  to  be  done  on  the  two  field  and  three  field 
system  respectively.  These  were  two  different  methods  of 
working  the  land,  which,  while  involving  precisely  similar 
amounts  of  labour,  yielded  rather  different  results. 


VIII.]  Agriculture.  1 73 

According  to  the  two  field  system  the  following  arrange- 
ments were  carried  out.  One  field  (A)  was  sown  with  wheat  or 
rye  in  early  winter.  This  crop  grew  until  the  next  summer, 
was  reaped  at  harvest  time,  and  the  stubble  was  left  on  the 
land  till  the  following  summer.  Thus,  during  the  whole 
year,  the  only  work  done  on  field  A  was  that  of  reaping 
the  harvest.  The  second  field  (B)  was  the  scene  of  much 
more  active  operations.  In  late  spring  or  early  summer  the 
stubble  of  the  previous  year  was  broken  up  and  ploughed 
twice;  the  field  then  lay  fallow  for  some  weeks,  after  which 
it  was  ploughed  over  again  before  being  sown  with  wheat 
or  rye  in  the  early  winter.  Thus  while  the  one  field  was 
under  crop  the  whole  year,  the  other  was  ploughed  over 
three  times,  enjoyed  some  weeks  of  fallow,  and  was  event- 
ually sown  with  wheat  or  rye. 

The  three  field  system  was  similar,  save  that  an  interme- 
diate year  was  introduced.  After  each  field  had  had  a  crop 
of  wheat  or  rye,  it  was  usual  in  this  plan  to  give  it  a  second 
crop  of  barley  or  oats.  This  crop  was  sown  in  the  spring, 
after  the  land  had  been  ploughed  over  once,  and  was  reaped 
in  the  autumn.  The  barley  year  was  brought  in  between 
the  wheat  year  and  the  fallow  year  of  the  two  field  system. 
According  to  this  scheme  there  were  two  years  of  crop, 
wheat  and  barley,  followed  by  one  season  when  the  field 
was  fallow,  instead  of  alternate  years  of  crop  and  fallow. 
It  is  obvious  that  where  the  three  field  system  could  be 
introduced,  it  gave  a  much  greater  return  —  two-thirds  of 
the  land  would  be  under  crop  each  year,  and  not  merely 
one  half. 

Walter   of    Henley   enables   us   to   compare    the    two 
systems  more  closely,  as  he  gives  an  estimate 
of  the  work  which  an  ordinary  team  of  eight    The  work  of 

''  '^  the  teams. 

oxen  could  manage    on   one    system   or   the 


174     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

other.  Two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  work  was  as  much 
as  they  could  accomplish  in  a  year;  and  a  team  could 
either  work  i6o  acres  on  the  two  field  system,  or  i8o  on  the 
three.  If  the  three  field  system  was  employed  —  three  fields 
of  60  acres  each  —  the  team  would  plough  up  the  wheat 
stubble  before  the  barley  was  sown  in  spring  (60  acres), 
and  would  also  plough  the  fallow  field  three  times  in  the 
course  of  the  summer,  making  240  acres  in  all.  On  the 
two  field  system  the  same  team  could  manage  two  fields  of 
80  acres  each.  On  one  of  those,  where  the  crop  was  grow- 
ing, no  work  would  be  done :  the  other  was  ploughed  three 
times  —  giving  240  acres  of  work.  Thus  each  team  under 
the  three  field  system  could  provide  120  acres  of  crop,  as 
against  80  acres  of  crop,  which  were  available  on  the  two 
field  system. 

Both  methods  seem  to  have  existed  side  by  side  at  the 
time  of  the  Domesday  Survey,  though  it  is  probable  that 
the  three  field  system  became  increasingly  common  in 
subsequent  times;  but  there  was  a  modification  of  the 
two  field  system  which  is  of  some  interest.  This  consisted 
in  dividing  the  fields  into  half  fields.  Each  was  cropped 
every  alternate  year,  but  the  half  which  bore  wheat  one 
year  would  be  sown  with  barley  when  next  it  was  cropped. 
Each  half  field  thus  underwent  the  following  rotation, — 
wheat,  fallow,  barley,  fallow,  for  four  years.  When  in  later 
times  other  crops  came  to  be  introduced,  this  four  field 
system,  as  we  may  call  it,  was  very  easily  modified  into 
a  four  course  husbandry  of  wheat,  clover,  barley,  turnips. 
Not  until  the  eighteenth  century  was  there  much  systematic 
attempt  to  introduce  these  modifications  and  the  scientific 
rotation  of  crops. 

Hence  we  may  say  that  the  two  field  and  three  field 
systems  seem  to  have  held  their  own,  from  times  preceding 


VIII.]  Agriculture.  175 

the  Norman  Conquest  until  the  seventeenth  or  eighteenth 
century,  as  the  ordinary  and  recognised  methods  of  culti- 
vation. During  this  long  period  there  seems  to  have  been 
little,  if  any,  progress  in  the  art  of  agriculture,  and  Walter 
of  Henley's  Husbandry,  written  in  the  reign  of  Henry  HI, 
was  not  superseded  by  any  better  work  until  the  time  of 
Henry  VHI,  when  Fitzherbert's  treatises  appeared. 

114.  The  great  plague  which  passed  over  England 
in  1349,  when  the  Black  Death  swept  away 
about  half  of  the  population,  seems  to  have  Death  and 
initiated  a  number  of  changes  in  rural  life,  sheep-farm- 
When  the  numbers  of  the  labourers  were  so 
much  reduced,  it  was  impossible  to  carry  on  tillage  on  the 
old  scale,  and  the  area  under  plough  shrunk  very  consi- 
derably. It  could  no  longer,  as  we  have  already  seen 
(p.  41),  be  profitably  conducted  on  the  old  system  of  bailiff 
farming,  and  the  re-arrangement  of  the  social  grouping  and 
introduction  of  tenant  farming  was  a  gradual  process.  The 
scarcity  of  labour  and  the  demand  for  wool  combined  to 
render  it  profitable  for  the  landowner  to  give  up  tillage  and 
to  take  to  sheep-farming  instead.  This  may  be  said  to  have 
been  the  first  form  of  capitalist  farming  in  England,  when 
the  land  was  turned  from  tillage  to  sheep-farming,  and  was 
used  in  the  fashion  that  would  afford  wool  for  sale  and 
bring  in  a  good  money  return  in  the  market.  Till  the 
Black  Death,  the  procuring  of  subsistence  had  been  the 
main  object  of  the  great  lords  in  the  management  of  their 
estates.  Henceforward  farming  came  to  be  regarded  more 
and  more  as  a  business,  and  those  who  invested  money  in 
it  looked  for  a  return,  like  other  traders,  from  the  prices 
fetched  in  the  market. 

The  general  prevalence  of  subsistence  farming  in  the 
early  Middle  Ages  is  clear  from  such  treatises  as  tliatof  Walter 


1/6     Outlines  of  English  hidustrial  History.    [Chap. 

of  Henley,  who  in  writing  for  large  owners  distinctly  recom- 
mends it.  The  estate  was  to  supply  the  needs  of  the 
household  as  far  as  possible,  so  that  marketing  might 
be  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  regular  practice  was  to  pro- 
vide for  the  household  first,  and  when  this  was  done  the 
surplus  would  be  taken  to  market.  This  is  reflected  in  the 
accounts  which  detail  many  of  the  outgoings  and  profits  of 
the  estate  in  money,  but  allow  for  the  corn  in  bushels,  and 
only  reckon  as  much  in  money  as  was  actually  taken  to 
market  and  sold  at  the  current  rates.  Since  this  was  the 
practice  of  the  manorial  lords,  who  could  command  facili- 
ties for  the  conveyance  of  corn,  it  must  also  have  been  true 
of  the  small  farmers  who  would  have  more  difficulty  in  re- 
gard to  carriage. 

It  seems,  then,  that  subsistence  farming  was  the  usual 
thing   in  the   thirteenth  and  fourteenth  cen- 

Farming  for  .  -,  ,r  .  •    n 

the  market.  turics.  Money  economy  was  very  partially 
introduced  in  this  department:  the  farmer 
did  not  work  with  reference  to  a  market,  and  only  offered 
for  sale  the  surplus  of  his  crop  over  and  above  what  he 
required  for  use.  This  state  of  affairs  contrasts  curiously 
with  what  occurred  at  a  later  date.  The  quoted  prices  of 
corn  in  the  Middle  Ages  only  represent  the  rate  at  which 
the  surplus  was  sold.  The  requirements  of  the  rural  popu- 
lation were,  as  we  may  say,  a  first  charge  on  the  harvest 
before  any  of  it  was  sold.  Under  these  circumstances  we 
should  expect  greater  and  more  rapid  fluctuations  in  price 
than  we  find  in  days  when  the  whole  crop  is  realised  in 
money,  and  the  requisite  food  is  subsequently  purchased 
by  the  farmer.  Farther  it  maybe  said  that  since  the  farmer 
worked  for  subsistence  rather  than  for  profit,  fluctuations  in 
price  did  not  directly  affect  him,  and  that  in  so  far  as  he 
was  able  to  contract  or  expand  his  operations,  he  would  be 


VIII.]  Agriculture.  177 

led  to  do  so  by  his  own  household  requirements  rather  than 
by  the  price  he  could  get  for  his  surplus  corn.  The  contrast 
becomes  most  curious  when  we  notice  that  none  of  the  con- 
ditions, which  Ricardo  assumed  as  the  usual  and  regular 
thing,  when  he  wrote  his  explanation  of  corn  rent  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  had  come  into  being  in  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  crops  were  not  thought  of  as  taken 
to  market  at  all,  and  the  expansion  or  contraction  of  tillage 
did  not  directly  depend  on  market  price,  but  on  the  require- 
ments and  the  industry  of  isolated  households.  There  had, 
of  course,  been  many  great  farming  establishments  before 
the  time  of  the  Black  Death,  where  labour  was  carefully 
organised  and  much  wealth  was  procured  and  housed  in  the 
granges.  But  these  were  not  capitalist  undertakings  in  the 
modern  sense;  the  bailiff  did  not  work  with  a  view  to 
income,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  subsistence  of  the. house- 
hold. Capitalist  tillage,  as  we  know  it,  is  very  modern, 
for  it  is  in  connexion  with  sheep-farming  that  we  first  come 
across  the  rural  enterprise  of  wealthy  men,  who  invested 
their  money  in  sheep  or  cattle  and  were  guided  in  their 
operations  by  the  state  of  the  markets.  They  were  able  to 
take  advantage  of  the  conditions  brought  about  by  the 
Black  Death.  Land,  which  was  left  uninhabited  or-  un- 
occupied, could  easily  be  utilised  for  sheep-farming,  and 
there  was  a  marked  tendency  to  turn  it  to  account  in  this 
fashion.  As  the  price  of  wool  increased  during  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries,  the  temptation  to  encroach  on 
tillage  and  to  develop  pasture-farming  became  very  strong. 
At  various  periods  it  was  accompanied  by  rapid  rural  de- 
population, and  grave  anxiety  was  felt  as  to  the  main- 
tenance of  our  food  supply,  so  that,  as  pointed  out 
above  (§  50),  deliberate  efforts  were  made  to  check  the 
movement. 


178     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

115.  About  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
Convertible  however,  an  improvement,  known  as  con- 
husbandry.        vertible  husbandry,  was  introduced  into  tillage ; 

Sixteenth  ,  .  ^         j     ,       V      •     •   ,       ,  , 

century  this  rendered  the  dnninished  area  much  more 

enclosing.  productive.     It  consisted  of  an  alternation  of 

pasture  and  arable  farming.  A  portion  of  arable  land  would 
be  laid  down  in  grass  for  a  period  of  years,  after  which  it 
would  then  be  broken  up  again  and  used  for  tillage  for  a 
time.  This  gave  a  far  better  chance  for  the  land  to  recu- 
perate than  was  possible  with  the  fallowing  every  second  or 
third  year,  while  it  involved  the  breaking  up  of  the  perma- 
nent fields.  The  husbandman,  instead  of  having  scattered 
strips  in  the  open  fields  with  meadow  and  pasture  rights 
over  the  common  waste,  henceforward  occupied  six  several 
or  separate  closes.  Three  of  these  were  used  for  corn,  so 
that  he  could  keep  up  the  old  alternation  of  wheat,  barley 
and  fallow.  One  he  used  as  pasture  for  his  cows;  another 
as  pasture  for  sheep  or  other  stock,  and  another  as  meadow. 
Then  in  winter,  when  he  expected  most  difificulty  in  finding 
provender,  five  out  of  the  six  closes  were  available  for  his 
cattle  —  the  remaining  one  would  be  sown  with  wheat.  Land 
which  was  enclosed  with  hedgerows  gave  far  better  shelter 
for  the  cattle,  and  could  be  worked  more  carefully  than 
when  all  the  stock  of  the  village  were  allowed  to  wander  over 
the  waste  and  eat  it  bare  at  once.  It  was  a  more  prudent 
way  of  using  the  common  waste.  It  was  also  favourable  to 
tillage,  as  the  cow  pasture,  when  broken  up  after  some  years, 
would  be  greatly  improved  from  the  way  in  which  cattle 
had  been  constantly  kept  upon  it.  Not  only  had  the  land 
rest,  but  it  was  also  well  manured. 

When  enclosure  was  carried  out  in  the  interests  of  tillage 
and  grazing  alike,  it  was  a  general  benefit.  More  corn 
and  food  of  every  sort  were  produced  for  consumers.     The 


VIII.]  Agriailhire.  lyg 

farmer  had  his  land  more  conveniently  placed  for  his  opera- 
tions, and  even  if,  with  the  diminished  area  Enclosure 
under  tillage,  there  was  less  need  for  ploughing,  a"<^  depopu- 
there  was  an  increased  demand  for  labour  in 
connexion  with  hedging  and  ditching.  It  was  an  enormous 
saving  in  everyway,  though,  possibly,  it  gave  slightly  dimin- 
ished opportunities  of  employment.  In  many  cases,  however, 
enclosing  was  carried  out  in  the  interest  of  grazing  only. 
The  open  fields  and  common  waste  were  alike  broken  up 
into  closes  for  sheep  and  cattle,  with  the  result  that  there 
was  little  need  for  any  labour  but  that  of  a  shepherd  and  his 
dog,  while  the  country  districts  were  depopulated.  It  is 
not  always  easy  to  distinguish,  at  this  distance  of  time,  cases 
of  enclosure  for  the  formation  of  parks  and  sheep-farms, 
and  cases  of  enclosure  for  the  introduction  of  convertible 
husbandry.  Both  were  called  by  the  same  name,  but  one 
was  accompanied  by  depopulation,  and  the  other  was  not. 
Convertible  husbandry  did  not  involve  any  change  in  the  size 
of  holdings  or  in  the  number  of  tenancies.  This  the  large 
sheep-farms  did;  and  the  pulling  down  of  houses  of  hus- 
bandry was  fixed  upon  as  the  special  mark  of  the  bad  as 
contrasted  with  the  allowable  and  useful  type  of  enclosing. 
It  is  a  little  difficult  to  trace  the  course  of  the  en- 
closures, good  and  bad,  of   the  fifteenth  and 

1  •  Tr  1       iiT  •    1     1  •  England. 

Sixteenth  centuries.  If  we  take  W  arwickshire, 
we  find  that  the  greater  part  of  the  south-eastern  half  of 
the  county  was  enclosed  in  1459.  John  Ross  alleged  that 
depopulation  had,  in  consequence,  gone  on  very  rapidly 
and  on  a  large  scale.  About  a  hundred  years  later, 
in  the  time  of  Edward  VI,  we  find  fresh  complaints  of 
enclosure  in  the  same  district,  as  if  it  were  quite  a  new 
thing.  It  is  still  more  startling  to  discover  that  in  the  time 
of  Elizabeth  and  for  two  hundred  years  later,  this  particular 


i8o     Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industiial  History.    [Chap. 

district  was  quite  unenclosed,  and  remained  in  open  fields. 
We  are  almost  forced  to  suppose  that  the  outcry  against  de- 
population had  proved  successful  once  and  again.  Under 
the  circumstances  it  is  dangerous  to  specify  any  time  when 
the  change  was  going  on  with  special  rapidity.  The  fullest 
information  we  possess  is  for  the  thirty  years  preceding 
15 17.  The  greatest  and  most  widespread  dissatisfaction 
was  shown  in  the  time  of  Edward  VI ;  and  the  last  we  hear  of 
depopulation  was  under  the  stimulus  of  a  high  price  of  wool, 
in  the  last  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Then  it  ended. 
The  demand  for  corn  had  come  to  be  such  that  it  was  not  good 
management  to  prosecute  grazing  alone,  to  the  exclusion  of 
tillage ;  and  enclosures,  accompanied  by  depopulation,  may 
be  said  to  have  ceased  in  England,  in  the  reign  of  James  I. 

A  similar  movement,  due  to  similar  economic  causes, 
Ireland  and  has  shown  itsclf  in  later  times,  both  in  Ireland 
Scotland.  and  Scotland.     Soon   after   the    Restoration, 

English  capitalists  found  an  excellent  field  for  speculation 
in  breeding  and  fattening  cattle  in  Ireland.  They  were  glad 
to  form  large  ranches,  which  were  cleared  of  the  cottiers  and 
left  to  the  cattle.  The  profit  from  these  herds  was  very  con- 
siderable, and  it  was  convenient  to  absorb  the  little  cottier 
holdings  which  could  be  advantageously  utilised  as  portions 
of  these  pasture  farms.  Though  it  was  a  very  successful 
market  speculation,  the  Irish  disliked  it,  because  it  depopu- 
lated the  country.  As  has  been  already  indicated,  the  eco- 
nomic jealousy  of  English  landowners  combined  with  the  poli- 
tical jealousy  of  English  Whigs  to  check  the  movement  (§  93). 

In  more  recent  days,  sheep-farms  and  deer  forests  have 
proved  the  most  remunerative  speculation  for  proprietors  in 
the  highlands,  and  crofters  and  small  tradesmen  have  some- 
times been  forced  to  make  way  for  one  or  other.  Capitalist 
farming,  in  all  these  cases,  has  taken  the  form  of  utilising 


VIII.]  Agricjilture.  i8i 

the  uncultivated  land  for  feeding  animals  of  some  kind, 
and  has  pressed  severely  on  the  subsistence  farming  of 
badly  equipped  and  impoverished  peasants.  There  is  much 
greater  difificulty  in  organising  capitalist  arable  farming; 
and  this  was  in  England,  at  least,  a  later  growth. 

1 1 6.  One  way  in  which  capitalist  pasture-farming  tends 
to  depress  peasant  subsistence  farming  is  by  capitalist 
the  demand  for  increased  rent.  Under  the  pasture-farm- 
conditions  described,  land  used  for  pasturage  '"^  ^" 
has  a  high  money  value  and  yields  a  considerable  rent. 
The  landlord  will  naturally  ask  as  large  a  payment  for  the 
use  of  land  for  arable  purposes  as  he  can  obtain  for  its  use 
as  pasturage.  The  beginning  of  capitalist  sheep-farming 
marks  the  beginning  of  competition  rents.  Medieval  rents 
were  practically  fixed,  and  included  the  share  of  taxation 
which  the  peasant  paid.  They  corresponded,  too,  with  the 
value  of  the  labour  services  of  which  the  lord  was  deprived 
when  the  peasant  became  free  to  spend  all  his  time  on  his 
own  land.  This  would  still  be  a  natural  basis  for  calcula- 
tion, when  yeomen  with  leasehold  tenure  were  introduced 
by  those  landlords  who  ceased  to  work  their  domains  with  the 
help  of  a  bailiff.  But  with  capitalist  farming  a  new  element 
plainly  enters  into  consideration.  Rent  comes  to  have  the 
clear  and  obvious  character  of  a  payment  for  the  use  of  the 
soil;  its  amount  will  be  connected  with  the  suitability  of 
the  soil  for  some  special  purpose.  The  landlord  expects  to 
receive  a  sum  that  represents  the  value  of  the  land  when 
employed  in  the  most  remunerative  way,  and  those  who  like 
to  use  it  for  some  less  remunerative  purpose  may  be  called 
upon,  so  far  as  purely  economic  considerations  go,  to  pay 
such  a  sum  that  the  loss  for  their  want  of  enterprise  or  skill 
shall  not  fall  on  the  landlord.  There  was  a  great  outcry  in 
Tudor  times  against  landlords  who  were  guided  by  purely 


1 82     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

economic  considerations  in  this  matter,  and  political  reasons 
were  adduced  for  interfering  to  preserve  for  the  peasant 
class  the  right  to  use  land  for  a  purpose  which  was  not 
so  remunerative  as  pasture-farming. 

117.  It  is  very  difficult  to  estimate  the  precise  progress 
Seventeenth  ^^  agriculture  during  the  seventeenth  century, 
century  hus-  There  are  some  pieces  of  evidence  which  would 
bandry.  seem  to  show  that  it  was  advancing  here  and 

there,  though  not  very  generally. 

For  one  thing,  there  was  considerable  interest  in 
the  subject,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  number  of  technical 
treatises  which  were  issued.  Fitzherbert  and  Tusser  are  prac- 
tically alone  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  their  work  is 
comparatively  slight  j  but  the  treatises  of  Markham,  Weston, 
Piatt,  Taylor,  and  other  seventeenth  century  writers  are 
Brabant  conccived   on   a  much   larger   scale.      They 

husbandry.  were  not  Content  to  record  English  experi- 
ence, they  also  gave  accounts  of  the  crops  and  methods  of 
cultivation  employed  in  Flanders  and  Brabant,  and  indicated 
some  points  in  which  Englishmen  might,  with  advantage, 
imitate  their  rivals.  They  discussed  many  details  connected 
with  the  management  of  land,  and  gave  much  good  practical 
advice.  It  was,  probably,  not  entirely  without  effect,  but  at 
the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  descriptions, 
which  we  read  of  English  farming  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
render  it  perfectly  clear  that  the  new  expedients  were  not 
adopted  at  all  generally  when  they  were  first  set  forth.  Still 
these  treatises  serve  to  show  that  a  certain  number  of  men 
were  studying  the  subject  seriously;  and  the  advances,  which 
were  made  at  a  later  time,  were  undoubtedly  initiated  by 
men  of  this  type. 

Another  and  a  better  indication  of  the  prosperity  of 
the  landed  interest  may  be  drawn  from  the  fact  that  efforts 


VIII.]  Agriculture.  183 

were  made  at  this  time  to  extend  the  area  of  available  land. 
Here  again,  experience  acquired  in  the  Low  Drainage  of 
Countries  was  brought  to  bear  for  the  im-  ^^^  ^^"^• 
provement  of  England.  There  were  two  great  districts 
which  were  constantly  flooded  by  the  rivers  which  pass 
through  them.  The  Cambridgeshire  fens  were  intersected 
by  five  rivers,  and  were  liable  to  be  flooded  by  surface 
water.  A  great  scheme  was  proposed  and  gradually  carried 
out  for  constructing  a  new  channel  into  which  these  rivers 
might  drain,  and  by  which  the  water  from  the  Midlands 
might  be  passed  to  the  sea.  It  was  worked  out  by  a 
Dutchman  named  Cornelius  Vermuiden,  and  proved  more 
economical  than  any  attempts  to  bank  in  each  of  the  separate 
rivers  for  the  whole  distance  of  their  course  through  the  fens. 
Similar  measures  were  taken  at  Hatfield  Chase,  near  Don- 
caster.  In  this  case  the  difificulties  between  the  old  inhabi- 
tants and  those  who  obtained  possession  of  the  land  which 
was  recovered,  led  to  open  hostilities.  The  draining  of  low 
grounds  involved  the  destruction  of  the  fish,  wild  fowl,  and 
other  products  of  the  marshes.  The  commoners,  who  had 
adapted  themselves  to  life  in  these  districts,  had  no  desire 
that  the  land  should  be  drained,  as  they  did  not  wish  to 
betake  themselves  to  pasture-farming  or  tillage,  and  they 
showed  their  resentment  by  every  means  in  their  power. 
Similar  difificulties  were  felt  in  the  Cambridgeshire  fens, 
but  resistance  to  the  change  was  neither  so  long  continued 
nor  so  violent  there,  as  in  the  more  northerly  district.  When 
we  pass  through  the  rich  area  of  fertile  corn-land  which  has 
been  gradually  rescued  from  inundation,  and  see  the  harvests 
it  now  bears,  or  remember  how  long  chronic  ague  lingered 
on  the  low  lying  lands,  we  cannot  wish  that  this  step  of  pro- 
gress had  been  stayed,  however  much  we  may  regret  the 
suffering  which  fell  on  one  particular  generation. 


184     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

Besides  the  gain  which  accrued  through  the  protection 
of  the  fens  from  inland  inundation,  there  was  also  success 
in  rescuing  some  districts  from  the  sea.  The  salt  marshes 
of  Essex  and  the  low  lands  of  Norfolk  were  banked  against 
the  tide,  and  a  large  area  of  excellent  pasturage  was  pro- 
vided. In  all  this  there  was  conscious  imitation  of  the 
expedients  employed  by  the  Dutch.  Owing  to  the  political 
struggles  of  the  seventeenth  century,  men,  first  of  one  party 
and  then  of  another,  took  refuge  in  Holland.  They  were 
struck  by  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  and  advocated  the 
adoption,  in  England,  of  plans  which  had  been  crowned  with 
success  elsewhere.  Charles  II  was  particularly  impressed 
by  the  canal  system,  and  was  personally  interested  in  pro- 
posals for  improving  the  internal  water-ways  of  England. 
This  was  advocated,  in  his  time,  as  a  means  of  increasing 
the  food  supply  of  London  and  other  large  towns.  Little, 
however,  was  done  to  give  effect  to  these  suggestions  till  a 
century  later,  when  fuel,  and  not  food,  was  the  requirement 
which  they  were  chiefly  intended  to  supply  (§  18). 

There  is  some  incidental  evidence  which  indicates 
Farminc  ^  Condition  of  considerable  rural  prosperity, 

fairly  remune-  The  era  of  depopulation  had  come  to  an  end, 
''^^'^^'  and  the  competition  for  arable  farms  seems 

to  show  that  tillage  was  a  fairly  prosperous  business.  There 
was  a  decided  rise  of  rents  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
not  merely  from  pasture-farms,  but  on  ordinary  agricultural 
land.  This  indicates  that  agriculture  was  developing  on 
the  whole.  There  was  certainly  greater  approximation  to 
modern  conditions ;  market  considerations  were  coming  pro- 
minently into  view,  as  well  as  provision  for  subsistence,  in 
the  management  of  land.  Though  the  Civil  War  must 
have  caused  much  disturbance,  by  affecting  the  rates  of 
wages  and  exposing  husbandmen  to  many  risks  and  exac- 


VIII.]  Agricnltiire.  185 

tions,  and  though  the  seasons  at  the  close  of  the  century 
were  very  unfavourable,  farming  seems  to  have  been  fairly 
remunerative,  even  though  little  general  progress  was  made 
in  the  art  of  tillage. 

118.     The  eighteenth  century,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a 
time  of    very  rapid  and  much  more  general  ^^^ 
progress,  which  resulted  in  changes  on  every   agricultural 
side  of  rural  life.     The  Stuart  period  was  a   "^°'"tion. 
time  of  promise  so  far  as  rural  economy  was  concerned. 
The  Hanoverian  reigns,  and  especially  the  time  of  George 
III,  were  a  period  of  performance.    The  Corn  Bounty  Law 
of  William  III  (i68g)  rendered  farming  less  uncertain  as  an 
investment  for  capital  than  it  had  previously  been  (p.  84). 
In  years  of  great  plenty  the  farmer  still  got  a  remunerative 
price;  and  landlords  and  men  of  enterprise  alike  found  it 
a  profitable  business. 

Scientific  agriculture  was   pushed  on  with  great  suc- 
cess.     The    study    did    not    merely    consist   ,„ 

J  J  Improvements 

of  observations  of  practice  elsewhere;  it  was  in  farming  and 
pursued  by  careful  experimental  methods,  '"■^^'^'"s- 
Arthur  Young's  Tours  give  us  a  most  interesting  picture 
of  the  transition  which  was  taking  place  in  rural  life.  On 
the  one  side  he  paints  for  us  the  wastefulness  and  ignorant 
methods  of  the  yeoman  farmers;  the  costliness  and  badness 
of  their  ploughing  is  a  theme  to  which  he  frequently  recurs. 
On  the  other  hand  we  read  of  the  spirited  improver,  who 
tried  new  crops,  or  new  courses  of  rotation,  and  who 
kept  accurate  numerical  returns  of  different  experiments. 
The  introduction  of  a  suitable  course  of  husbandry  was  the 
chief  improvement  he  had  at  heart.  Turnips  had  been  cul- 
tivated for  some  time,  though  carelessly,  but  artificial  grasses 
and  clover  were  little  grown  when  he  first  began  to  write. 
Such  crops  could   be  used   to   take    the   place   of   the  old 


1 86     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

fallowing,  and,  if  properly  managed,  were  a  good  preparation 
for  wheat.  In  every  way  it  was  an  enormous  saving.  In 
those  counties  where  convertible  husbandry  had  been 
already  introduced,  the  rotation  of  crops  could  follow,  as 
soon  as  any  individual  farmer  recognised  its  advantages. 
Where  the  land  still  lay  in  open  fields,  and  all  the  strips 
were  cultivated  according  to  a  common  custom,  there  were 
serious  obstacles  in  making  a  change.  Hence  the  enclosure 
of  open  fields  was  pushed  on,  during  the  eighteenth  century, 
with  a  view  to  removing  obstacles  to  the  improved  system 
of  agriculture.  There  was  a  tendency  also  to  replace  the 
yeoman  by  more  substantial  and  more  enterprising  men, 
and  to  throw  two  or  three  of  the  old  forty  acre  farms  into 
one  larger  one. 

The  improvement  in  tillage  was  very  noticeable,  but  it 
extended  to  the  breeding  of  stock  as  well.  Mr.  Bakewell 
was  successful  in  obtaining  a  type  which  was  specially  suit- 
able for  fattening,  and  '  the  roast  beef  of  old  England '  began 
to  approximate  to  the  excellence  it  has  since  attained.  The 
sheep-shearings  at  Holkham  in  Norfolk  and  on  the  Duke  of 
Bedford's  property  at  Woburn  were  great  opportunities  for 
improvers  to  meet  and  interchange  ideas.  Nor  was  royal 
patronage  wanting,  for  George  III,  under  the  pseudonym 
of  Ralph  Robinson,  took  an  active  part  in  forwarding  the 
movement. 

The  increase  of  the  area  under  tillage  at  this  time 
Progress  of  is  perhaps  most  easily  traceable  in  the  pro- 
enclosure,  gress  of  enclosure.  This  meant  not  only  the 
better  utilisation  of  existing  fields,  but  also  the  employ- 
ment of  additional  land  for  corn  growing.  The  open  fields, 
consisting  of  strips  of  land  separated  by  balks,  could  be 
better  employed  when  the  land  was  re-allotted  and  held  in 
severalty,  while  the  common  waste  could  also  be  broken  up 


VIII.]  Agncultiire.  187 

and  used  for  tillage,  with  good  economic  results,  though 
with  some  social  loss.  It  was  not  so  much  the  change, 
as  the  manner  in  which  it  was  sometimes  effected,  that 
made  it  a  matter  of  regret.  In  any  circumstances  there 
must  have  been  grave  difficulty  in  carrying  it  out  satisfac- 
torily. To  allot  to  each  of  the  small  tenants  in  the  village 
a  plot  of  ground,  approximately  equivalent  in  quality  and 
convenience  to  his  bundle  of  scattered  strips  and  including 
compensation  for  the  loss  of  meadow  and  grazing  rights,  was 
no  easy  task.  When  it  v/as  done  by  commissioners  from  a 
distance,  it  was  apt  to  be  very  expensive.  The  cost  of  pro- 
curing a  private  Act  of  Parliament  and  the  law  charges  were 
extravagant;  while  the  expense  of  fencing  the  several  holdings 
was  a  heavy  item.  The  whole  affair  was  frightfully  costly, 
and  brought  a  burden  upon  the  poorer  commoners  which 
they  were  not  all  able  to  bear.  A  more  serious  ground 
for  complaint  arose  from  the  fact  that  the  proceedings  were 
not  only  expensive  but  unfair.  Enclosure  acts  were  obtained 
at  the  instance  of  one  or  two  wealthy  or  pushing  men.  No 
enquiry  was  made  on  the  spot  as  to  the  general  feeling  of 
those  who  had  common  rights,  and  many  of  them  were 
unaware  that  any  action  had  been  taken  until  the  time 
arrived  for  carrying  the  new  measure  into  effect.  Protest 
was  then  useless,  and  no  real  opportunity  of  expressing  an 
opinion,  or  of  seeing  that  their  rights  were  properly  secured, 
was  given  to  the  majority  of  those  interested.  These 
high-handed  proceedings  were  injurious  to  Effect  on 
some  of  the  yeoman  farmers:  much  more  labourers, 
serious  evil  was  done  to  the  labourers.  They  had  often 
been  allowed,  and  in  some  cases  had  a  right,  to  graze  a  cow 
on  the  common  waste.  When  enclosure  took  place,  their 
title  to  have  any  allotment  was  often  disallowed;  or,  if  any 
land  was  assigned  them,  it  was  so  small  an  amount  that  they 


1 88     Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

could  not  utilise  it,  Arthur  Young  instituted  some  careful 
enquiries  into  the  matter.  He  was  a  decided  advocate  of 
enclosure  on  economic  grounds,  though  he  deprecated  the 
extravagant  fashion  in  which  it  was  sometimes  carried  out. 
He  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  when  favourable  considera- 
tion was  shown  to  the  labourers,  they  were  all  the  better 
for  the  change;  but  that  in  a  very  large  number  of  instances 
enclosure  had  been  carried  out  in  such  a  fashion  as  to  do 
them  irreparable  mischief.  This  was  one  of  the  many  ten- 
dencies which,  towards  the  end  of  the  last  and  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  combined  to  depress  the  condition  of  the 
agricultural  labourer.  The  system  of  allowances  in  aid  of 
wages  sapped  his  independence  (p.  94) ;  the  introduction  of 
the  spinning-jenny  diminished  the  family  earnings  (p.  222), 
and  the  progress  of  enclosure  prevented  him  from  having  a 
cow's  grass.  He  was  thus  cut  off  from  all  the  opportunities 
hitherto  available  of  increasing  his  means  of  subsistence, 
and  came  to  be  wholly  dependent  on  what  he  could  earn 
as  wages,  at  a  time  when  wages  ranged  specially  low  (p.  91 ), 
and  when,  owing  to  the  dearness  of  food  (p.  85),  his  money 
went  but  a  very  little  way.  Attention  was  called  to  the 
condition  of  the  labourer  by  the  Swing  riots  in  181 2, 
which  were  the  direct  outcome  of  this  miserable  state  of 
affairs. 

The  absolute  dependence  of  the  agricultural  labourer 
Allotments  upon  wagcs  and  the  importance  of  main- 
and  wages.  taining  as  high  a  rate  as  possible  were  facts 
so  strongly  impressed  on  the  minds  of  some  economists 
of  the  day  that  they  opposed  measures  advocated  by  prac- 
tical men  which  would,  in  all  probability,  have  proved  bene- 
ficial. Arthur  Young  urged  the  desirability  of  providing 
labourers  with  allotments,  especially  in  counties  where  it 
was   possible  to  provide  a  cow's  grass  for  each  cottager. 


VIII.]  Agriculture.  189 

An  allotment  that  would  serve  to  support  stock  of  any  sort 
would  be  a  great  aid  to  the  household  without  distracting 
the  man  from  giving  his  full  time  to  work  for  a  master. 
Arthur  Young  suggested  that  such  allotments  should  be 
granted  on  the  distinct  understanding  that  they  would  be 
forfeited  by  any  one  who  applied  for  parochial  relief.  In  this 
way  he  thought  they  might  be  utilised  so  as  to  check  the 
decline  of  independence.  But  his  practical  common  sense 
was  opposed  by  the  leading  economists;  they  argued  that 
allotments  would  either  tend  to  the  decrease  of  wages,  or 
that  the  additional  comfort  supplied  by  them  would  only 
result  in  an  increase  of  population,  and  thus  this  beneficial 
project  was  delayed  for  many  years. 

In  connexion  with  this  subject  it  is  worth  while  to 
point  out  that  the  disappearance  of  the  small  or  yeoman 
farmers  —  a  gradual  process  to  which  allusion  will  be  made 
below,  and  which  had  advanced  a  long  way  by  the  end  of 
the  Napoleonic  wars  —  reacted  very  unfavourably  on  the 
labourer.  While  there  were  small  farms  to  be  had,  it  was 
possible  for  the  labourer,  if  he  had  real  energy  and  skill,  to 
rise  in  the  world  and  to  take  a  farm  on  his  own  account. 
But  when  small  holdings  were  combined  to  form  larger  ones, 
which  could  only  be  profitably  worked  by  men  with  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  capital,  the  labourer  was  condemned 
to  forfeit  his  best  hope  of  rising  in  the  world  without  desert- 
ing his  old  home.  He  was  deprived,  as  we  may  say,  of  a 
legitimate  object  of  ambition. 

The  character  of  agriculture  during  this  period  under- 
went a  very  remarkable   change.     Until    the     Demand  for 
latter  part   of    the  last  century  England  was     '^°''"- 
able   to  produce   with  ease   a  sufficient   amount   of   corn 
for  home  consumption,  while  under  the  influence  of   the 
Corn  Bounty  Law  there  was  usually  a  sur]ilus  available  for 


IQO     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

export  to  foreign  markets.  Even  though  manufacturing 
had  advanced  considerably  and  little  wool  was  exported  in 
a  raw  state  in  the  eighteenth  century,  England  still  exported 
a  large  amount  of  raw  products,  both  coal  and  corn.  But 
during  the  years  1773-1793  a  turning  point  was  reached. 
England  ceased  to  be  a  corn-exporting  country  (p.  85);  her 
population  was  increasing,  despite  all  the  demands  made 
upon  it  by  wars  abroad,  and  the  check  imposed  by  the  war 
on  cottages  at  home.  With  increased  demand  for  food  there 
was  a  higher  price,  and  sometimes  a  very  high  price.  As 
an  immediate  result  of  this  change,  the  system  devised  for 
keeping  the  price  of  corn  steady  ceased  to  act.  The  Corn 
Law  was  altered  in  1773  in  the  hope  that  the  price  would  fall. 
The  result,  however,  was  that  the  price  of  corn  was  no  longer 
determined  by  the  sum  which  could  be  got  for  it  at  the  ports, 
but  depended  far  more  on  the  actual  demands  of  English 
consumers.  Hence  fluctuation  of  price  increased  consider- 
ably in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  was 
rendered  more  striking  by  the  curious  variation  of  the 
seasons.  From  the  beginning  of  that  century  till  about  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  (1776),  prices  had  been  re- 
munerative and  stable,  but  from  that  time  until  the  close 
of  the  Napoleonic  wars  they  were  very  variable.  Sometimes 
they  were  extraordinarily  high  and  sometimes  so  low  that 
the  yield  from  the  worst  land  in  cultivation  did  not  repay 
the  expense  of  raising  it.  We  can  thus  distinguish  a  time 
when  agriculture  was  a  steadily  profitable  pursuit,  and  one 
when  it  was  a  highly  speculative  business.  The  fate  of  the 
old-fashioned  yeoman  farmer  was  somewhat  different  during 
these  two  periods,  as  he  was  subject  to  entirely  diverse 
economic  influences. 

119.     These  economic  influences  have  hardly  received 
sufficient  consideration,  as  it  has  been  the  fashion  to  lay 


VIII.]  Agyicnltiirc.  igi 

a  great  deal  of    stress  on  some  supposed  political  causes 
for  the  disappearance  of  the  yeomanry.     It  is    „, 
said  that  the  landowners  were  anxious  to  ob-    of  the  yeo- 
tain  political  power,  and  bought  out  the  small    "'^"'^y- 
freeholders.     This  is  hardly  likely.     The  landowner  could 
not  obtain  power  in  this  way,  as  tenant  farmers  had  no  votes 
till  1832;  he  only  extinguished  voting  power  by  buying  out 
a  freeholder,  he  did  not  bring  it  within  the  sphere  of  his  own 
influence.     The  effects  of  this  supposed  cause  were  probably 
quite  unimportant,  but  on  the  other  hand  economic  condi- 
tions were  the  chief  factors  in  the  change.     They  have  not 
yet  been  examined  in  such  detail  that  it  is  possible  to  speak 
with  much  decision;  and  the  following  explanation  must 
be  regarded  as  somewhat  tentative. 

During  the  period  of  steady  improvement  it  may  be 
said  that  the  yeoman  farmer  was  often  an  inability  to 
obstacle  to  changes,  and  that  the  best  land-  compete, 
lords  were  anxious  to  get  him  out  of  the  way.  It  was 
the  small  farmer  who  worked  his  land  badly;  whose  strips 
in  the  common  fields  were  covered  with  weeds,  and  thus 
served  to  undo  the  care  exercised  by  neighbours  in  clear- 
ing away  the  growth :  he  was  the  man  who  was  impene- 
trable to  new  ideas  and  kept  up  the  expensive  methods  of 
ploughing  with  large  teams  and  heavy  ploughs.  No  wonder 
that  the  owner  of  a  well-managed  estate  was  anxious  to  get 
rid  of  such  tenants,  or  that  a  wealthy  improving  landlord 
was  glad  to  buy  out  such  neighbours  if  he  could.  And  the 
opportunity  occurred  not  infrequently.  Their  ways  of  work- 
ing the  land  served  for  subsistence  farming,  but  they  were 
not  in  a  position  to  compete  with  the  capitalist  farmer  in 
the  markets.  He  could  hold  over  and  sell  his  corn  at  high 
prices  in  the  spring  or  summer,  while  the  small  farmer  was 
forced,  for  want  of  money,  to  realise  his  crop  immediately 


192     Ontlijies  of  English  Industjial  History.    [Chap. 

after  harvest,  when  prices  were  very  low.  As  he  failed  to 
take  up  the  rotation  of  crops,  and  to  cultivate  roots  or 
grasses  successfully,  he  was  at  a  still  greater  disadvantage 
in  fattening  his  stock,  and  when  any  emergency  occurred 
he  was  forced  to  give  up  the  struggle  and  to  make  way 
for  a  more  enterprising  man.  The  agricultural  struggles 
of  the  sixteenth  century  had  been  fought  out  over  the  exten- 
sion of  grazing,  those  of  the  eighteenth  century  concerned  the 
progress  of  tillage.  The  sixteenth  century  had  made  little, 
if  any,  alteration  in  the  size  and  character  of  the  holdings 
which  remained,  but  the  eighteenth  century  saw  a  decided 
change  in  the  way  of  uniting  holdings  wherever  it  could 
be  managed.  In  the  counties  which  had  already  been  en- 
closed, we  can  hardly  trace  the  change,  but  where  there  was 
much  open  field  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  progress  of  enclosure  was  doubtless  accompanied  by  the 
gradual  elimination  of  the  less  competent  and  energetic  of 
the  small  farmers  —  whether  tenants  or  owners. 

The  time  of  rapid  fluctuation  told  against  them  even 
more   seriously;    the  period   of   bad   seasons 
changes  of         at  the  close  of   the  century  must  have  been 
fortune.  {■aX.?^    to   vcry   many.       Thus,    in   one    Cam- 

bridgeshire parish,  it  is  said  that  all  the  small  farms  were 
united  in  the  hands  of  one  man,  who  lent  money  to  his 
neighbours  and  foreclosed  when  the  continued  bad  harvests 
had  ruined  them.  But  those  who  were  able  to  pull  through 
this  bad  time  enjoyed  exceptional  prosperity  during  the 
Napoleonic  wars.  The  price  of  wheat  was  very  high,  and 
even  though  the  burdens  on  the  land  —  poor-rates,  tithe  and 
other  taxation  —  were  heavy,  some  agriculturists  had  a  most 
prosperous  time.  The  peasant  farmers  had  their  share  of 
the  large  money  returns,  or,  if  they  preferred  to  betake 
themselves  to  some  other  line  of    life,  they  were  able  to 


VIII.]  Agriculture.  193 

obtain  very  high  prices  for  their  small  farms.  It  is  said 
that  many  of  them  took  this  latter  course,  and  so  escaped 
the  reverses  which  came  on  the  agricultural  interest  at  the 
close  of  the  war.  It  was  partly  because  some  were  bad  at 
their  business,  partly  because  some  were  ruined  in  bad  times, 
and  also  because  others  were  able  to  take  advantage  of 
good  times,  that  the  class  of  small  farmers  disappeared,  and 
gave  place  to  the  modern  conditions  with  which  we  are 
familiar. 

In  not  a  few  cases  their  difficulties  were  aggravated  by 
the  withdrawal  of  manufactures  from  rural  places.  There 
was  less  employment  for  their  households,  and  perhaps  for 
themselves,  when  spinning  and  weaving  were  concentrated 
in  factory  districts.  There  was  less  local  demand  for  such 
products  as  eggs  and  milk  when  the  weavers  and  their 
families  deserted  the  villages.  All  these  tendencies  were 
concomitants  in  an  agricultural  revolution,  the  full  impor- 
tance of  which  has  hardly  been  yet  realised. 

For  whatever  may  have  been  the  steps  in  the  transition, 
it  seems  certain  that,  with  the  disappearance  Ricardo's 
of  the  small  farmer,  we  have  the  disappear-  theory  of  rent, 
ance,  for  the  present  at  least,  of  subsistence  farming  in 
England.  During  the  nineteenth  century  —  and  generally 
speaking  during  a  great  part  of  the  eighteenth  —  farming  has 
been  a  trade,  and  the  success  of  the  farmer  depends  on  the 
money  returns  to  his  business.  In  the  war  period  when 
prices  were  high,  it  was  worth  while  to  extend  the  area  of 
tillage  as  much  as  possible,  and  to  plough  up  land  that  was 
badly  suited  for  corn.  When  prices  fell,  this  land,  which 
was  on  the  margin  of  cultivation,  was  no  longer  used  for 
tillage.  Ricardo  was  thus  able  to  formulate  his  celebrated 
explanation  of  the  changes  in  rents  for  corn  land.  Land 
which  was  on  the  margin  and  just  repaid  the  expense  of 
o 


194     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

cultivation  would  afford  no  rent  for  corn;  but  any  land, 
better  suited  for  growing  corn,  could  do  so;  and  the  amount 
it  afforded  to  the  landlord  would  be  the  equivalent  of  the 
advantages  it  possessed  over  such  land  as  was  on  the 
margin.  Ricardo's  explanation  of  the  differences  and  varia- 
tions in  corn  rent  was  instructive  at  the  time,  for  it  summed 
up  and  formulated  a  condition  of  affairs  which,  though 
familiar  to  us,  was  then  somewhat  of  a  novelty.  The  ex- 
pansion and  contraction  of  agriculture  had  come  to  depend 
on  market  prices,  and  the  rise  and  fall  of  corn  rents  did 
not  cause  high  prices,  nor  even  follow  them  directly;  but 
rents  were  affected  by  prices  through  the  effect  of  the  latter 
on  the  increase  or  decrease  of  tillage. 

1 20.  Even  before  the  close  of  the  war,  it  was  obvious 
Permanent  ^^^^  ^^  pcace  Were  restored,  and  English  ports 
improve-  were  Open  to  foreign  corn,  there  must  be  a  sud- 
ments.  ^^^  drop  in  prices,  and   consequently  a  great 

diminution  of  the  area  under  cultivation,  with  a  subse- 
quent fall  in  rents.  It  seemed  as  if  ruin  stared  the  whole 
agricultural  interest  in  the  face,  and  the  Corn  Law  of  18 15 
was  a  deliberate  effort  to  stave  off  imminent  disaster  by 
trying  to  keep  the  price  of  corn  up  to  8oi-.  the  quarter. 
The  law  of  William  III  had  been  entirely  different;  it  had 
aimed  at  making  the  price  stable,  whereas  this  measure  was 
designed  to  keep  it  high.  The  underlying  political  principle 
of  rendering  the  country  self-sufificing  has  been  already 
discussed  (§  54),  but  the  economic  motive  was  certainly  that 
of  preserving  the  agricultural  interest  from  ruin.  The  con- 
demnation of  the  law  lay  in  this,  that  it  failed  to  accomplish 
its  purpose.  In  spite  of  the  special  protection  which  it  re- 
ceived, agriculture  went  from  bad  to  worse.  One  committee 
after  another  examined  into  the  condition  of  the  country, 
and  from  1815  to  1825  there  were  reiterated  reports  of  the 


VIII.]  Agriciclture.  195 

miserable  plight  into  which  the  farmers  had  fallen.  The 
Corn  Law  inflicted  a  great  deal  of  suffering  on  the  manufac- 
turing interests,  but  it  did  not  serve  to  avert  very  serious 
misfortune  in  the  rural  districts. 

In  so  far  as  English  agriculture  was  able  to  hold  its  own 
and  rally,  or  to  maintain  itself  when  the  full     ^^    • 

-'  '  Drainage 

force  of  foreign  competition  was  felt  after  and  high 
1846,  it  was  because  necessity  was  the  ^^'■'"'"e- 
mother  of  invention.  Every  effort  was  made  to  secure 
greater  efficiency  —  especially  greater  economy  through  the 
application  of  capital  to  land  in  permanent  improvements. 
The  experience  of  Mr.  Smith  of  Deanston  had  demonstrated 
the  advantages  of  thorough  draining.  Land  which  was 
properly  drained  could  be  much  more  easily  and  more 
thoroughly  worked,  so  that  when  this  improvement  was 
effected,  better  crops  could  be  regularly  produced.  Large 
areas  of  bog  and  marshy  ground  have  been  reclaimed 
through  this  process,  and  made  available  for  tillage,  while 
other  districts  have  been  rendered  far  more  productive. 
By  the  use  of  new  manures  and  by  high  farming  the  general 
agriculture  of  the  country  has  been  raised  to  a  degree  of 
efficiency  that  has  far  outstripped  the  hopes  of  eighteenth 
century  improvers.  And  this  result  has  been  chiefly  attained 
by  sinking  capital  in  permanent  improvements.  Landlords 
and  farmers  have  combined  to  use  their  capital  to  produce 
this  result,  and  to  raise  English  agriculture  to  the  high  degree 
of  excellence  and  prosperity  which  it  had  attained  in  1874. 
121.  The  efforts  of  the  agriculturist  have  been  enter- 
prising, but  the  greatly  increased  facilities  for  past  and 
communication  with  fertile  regions  in  distant  f"'"""^- 
continents  have  seemed,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  to 
make  it  hopeless.  Whatever  fortune  is  in  store  for  English 
agriculture  in  the  future  this  maybe  insisted  on;  we  cannot 


196     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

hope  to  succeed  by  reverting  to  any  method  or  system  that 
has  been  already  condemned.  Extensive  culture  and  the 
three  field  system  could  not  compete  successfully  where  the 
accumulated  skill  and  enterprise  of  recent  years  have  failed. 

One  hope  may  lie  in  saving  some  of  the  expense  of 
superintendence.  It  is  argued  that  on  smaller  farms  the 
best  methods  of  culture  can  be  organised  and  carried  on 
with  less  expense,  and  that  a  saving  can  be  effected  in  this 
fashion.  But  to  break  up  the  land  into  smaller  holdings  is 
not  necessarily  to  revert  to  an  old  condition.  The  small 
farms  of  earlier  days  were  badly  managed,  and  if  small 
holdings  are  to  succeed  it  will  be  because  they  can  be  better 
managed  than  the  large  ones;  and  because  all  the  new 
methods,  which  have  been  introduced  by  wealthy  farmers, 
can  be  adopted  by  men  with  less  capital.  While  the  land- 
lord can  sink  a  good  deal  of  capital,  the  peasant  farmer 
may  supply  more  efficient  labour  than  he  would  give  under 
supervision,  and  it  is  conceivable  that  there  might  thus  be 
some  saving  in  the  payment  for  superintendence.  Those 
who  pin  their  faith  to  smaller  holdings  must  mean  that  such 
farmers  can  take  full  advantage  of  modern  improvements; 
we  cannot  go  back  to  the  small  holding  of  the  subsistence 
farmer  or  of  the  man  who  was  half  weaver  and  half  grazier. 

Still  it  may  be  doubted  whether  subsistence  farming 
Gardens  and  could  not  be  Utilised  as  an  adjunct  to  our 
allotments.  modern  system.  There  may  be  produce  which 
it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  take  to  market,  and  which  yet 
supplies  excellent  food.  It  is  conceivable  that  the  labourer 
might  grow  for  his  own  use,  in  a  garden  or  small  allot- 
ment, produce  for  which  he  could  hardly  find  a  market,  but 
which  he  would  go  without  if  he  did  not  grow  it  himself. 
Poultry  and  pigs  are  possible  adjuncts  to  a  cottage  with 
a   garden;  although    they  might   not   be    remunerative   as 


vni.]  Agriculture.  197 

market  speculations,  they  might  be  well  woTth  having  as 
aids  to  the  subsistence  of  a  family.  K  cottager  can  rarely 
compete  with  the  capitalist  or  the  foreign  producer  in  the 
market,  but  if  he  has  the  means  and  ability  to  procure  some 
important  elements  of  subsistence,  he  may  live  in  fair  com- 
fort even  if  he  is  not  in  constant  receipt  of  wages.  If  the 
necessary  work  in  his  garden  is  compatible  with  his  farm 
work,  even  at  times  of  pressure,  so  that  the  two  employments 
can  be  carried  on  alternately  and  justice  be  done  to  both, 
the  cottager  may  possibly  live  in  greater  comfort,  even  if 
the  farmer's  payments  for  labour  should  be  reduced. 

Whether  it  is  possible  to  turn  attention  to  products 
which  are  not  grown  at  present,  and  which  would  pay  better 
than  those  already  cultivated  is  a  difficult  speculation.  Our 
temperate  climate  renders  it  possible  for  us  to  grow  many 
things  somehow;  but  each  of  these  various  products  will 
perhaps  grow  more  readily  in  some  other  land,  which  is 
within  easy  reach  by  sea.  The  command  of  the  sea  has 
brought  us  into  connexion  with  distant  lands  and  climates 
unlike  our  own,  and  the  very  success  of  our  commerce 
seems,  year  by  year,  to  narrow  the  range  of  profitable  occu- 
pations for  the  landed  interest. 


-/ 


CHAPTER   IX. 

LABOUR   AND   CAPITAL. 

12  2.    Adam  Smith,  in  the  opening  chapter  of  the  Wealth 
of  Nations,  has  drawn  a  contrast  between  the 

The  division  .  .... 

of  labour  in        material  well-being  of  a  savage  and  of  a  civilised 
industry  and      people.     He  ascribcs  the  difference  between 

agriculture.  ,  ...  ..... 

the  two,  m  their  power  of  obtaining  the  neces- 
saries and  conveniences  of  life,  to  one  main  principle  —  the 
division  of  labour.  It  allows  of  a  saving  of  time  and  a 
saving  of  skill  in  many  directions,  and  by  its  means  far 
more  work  can  be  accomplished  with  infinitely  less  drudgery. 
The  effectiveness  of  the  division  of  labour  has  been  fami- 
liarised by  the  one  classical  illustration  of  the  making  of 
pins:  but  its  general  effects  on  society  are  worth  a  little 
consideration,  especially  when  we  remember  that  it  is  com- 
paratively modern.  Combination  of  employments  has  ex- 
isted time  out  of  mind,  but  the  systematic  division  of  labour 
was  not  very  common  before  the  eighteenth  century. 

In  the  first  place  it  may  be  noticed  that  the  prin- 
ciple cannot  be  applied  equally  well  in  all  callings  —  for 
example,  agriculture  is  not  a  favourable  field  for  it.  The 
processes  of  agriculture  are  dependent  on  the  seasons  of 
the  year,  and  nothing  that  we  can  do  will  serv-e  to  hurry 
them  on.     Division  of  labour  in  industry  enables  men  to 


Chap,  ix.]  Labour  and  Capital.  199 

do  more  in  less  time,  but  agriculture  is  dependent  upon 
natural  operations,  and  no  exertion  will  make  the  harvest 
come  prematurely.  As  a  consequence,  the  agricultural  la- 
bourer has  to  devote  himself  to  different  occupations  during 
each  season  of  the  year.  The  old-fashioned  illustrations  of 
the  appropriate  labours  for  each  month  —  like  the  bronzes 
on  the  doors  of  S.  Zenone  at  Verona  —  show  that  this  has 
been  the  case  from  time  immemorial.  There  has  been  great 
progress  in  agriculture  since  primitive  times,  but  it  is  not 
nearly  so  striking  as  the  revolution  in  our  industrial  powers : 
where  division  of  labour  is  least  possible,  the  change  is  least 
complete.  From  this  it  follows  that  the  agricultural  labourer 
has  a  greater  variety  of  occupation  than  almost  any  other 
workman  in  our  present  society.  If  his  life  is  monotonous 
and  dull,  this  is  not  due  to  the  deadening  effects  of  me- 
chanical work  which  are  sometimes  ascribed  to  the  divi- 
sion of  labour. 

Division  of  employments,  combined  with  the  practical 
convenience  of  training  a  son  to  the  occupa-  g^^.^  ^^ 
tion  of  his  father,  has  served  as  the  economic  class  distinc- 
basis  of  the  caste  system;  and  the  pursuit  of  *'°"^' 
hereditary  callings  seems  to  have  led  to  the  accumulation  of 
inherited  skill,  so  that  each  new  generation  has  a  special 
aptitude  for  the  work  it  has  to  accomplish.  In  England 
there  has  never  been  such  a  hard  and  fast  separation  as  in 
the  East,  but  the  social  effects  of  the  division  of  labour  are 
very  noticeable  even  here.  For  some  kinds  of  work  it  is 
necessary  that  a  man  should  have  a  long  and  careful  training 
■ — as,  for  example,  a  surgeon;  while  the  employment  of  a 
bricklayer  can  be  picked  up  easily.  It  is  socially  advan- 
tageous that  each  should  keep  to  his  line :  the  surgeon 
would  spoil  his  hands  as  a  bricklayer,  while  the  bricklayer 
could  hardly  be  trusted  with  a  delicate  operation.     It  is  not 


200     Outlines  of  English  hidnstrial  History.    [Chap. 

advantageous  that  there  should  be  frequent  change  on  the 
part  of  adults  from  one  occupation  to  another;  and  if 
there  is  division  of  employments  at  all,  some  persons  will 
have  higher  or  better  work  than  falls  to  the  lot  of  others. 
Apart  from  all  questions  of  social  importance  or  remune- 
ration, it  is  best  for  any  one  to  take  up  such  work  as 
affords  the  widest  scope  for  progress  and  improvement.  The 
doctor  or  lawyer  is  likely  to  go  on  learning  his  business 
better  all  his  life,  while  the  artisan  is  at  his  best  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty-five.  And  there  is  a  very  great  difference  in 
the  whole  status  of  those  whose  powers  are  constantly  im- 
proving, and  of  men  who  have  nothing  more  to  learn  in 
their  work.     This  marks  a  real  difference  of  social  grade. 

In  all  ranks  of  life  the  principle  is  generally  adopted 
Differences  that  the  most  highly  skilled  and  responsible 
of  opportunity.  ^^^^^  should  be  the  most  highly  paid.  This 
is  so  obvious  and  natural  that  it  seems  unnecessary  to 
dwell  on  it.  There  is,  however,  some  slight  indication  of  a 
feeling  which  views  the  matter  from  a  personal  rather  than 
from  a  social  standpoint.  It  is  said  that  the  professional 
man  has  pleasanter  work  to  do,  and  that,  therefore,  he  may 
be  expected  to  work  for  less  pay  than  the  man  who  does  more 
disagreeable  work.  This  is  a  fair  principle  of  adjustment 
within  any  social  grade,  and  does  take  effect  in  the  minor 
differences  of  remuneration  within  the  same  social  class. 
But  so  far  as  society  is  concerned  it  is  right  that  the  man 
who,  having  the  opportunity,  does  what  is  best  worth  doing, 
should  get  the  greatest  reward;  and  from  this  it  follows 
that  he  has  a  better  chance,  if  he  desires  it,  of  starting  his 
children  in  a  line  of  life  similar  to  that  which  he  has 
adopted,  since  he  can  pay  for  their  longer  training.  However 
much  we  endeavour  to  break  down  any  disabilities  that  may 
have  hitherto  prevented  the  boy  of  exceptional  ability  from 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  201 

rising  in  the  world,  there  seems  to  be  little  prospect  of  a 
time  when  all  shall  start  with  equal  opportunities.  No  very 
satisfactory  system  of  selection  in  tender  years  has  been 
devised,  and  so  long  as  family  ties  are  recognised  at  all,  the 
son  of  the  successful  man  will  have  better  opportunities  in 
beginning  life  than  other  people,  since  he  has  time  to  be 
trained  for  difficult,  responsible,  and  well-paid  work. 

The  disabilities  to  which  the  medieval  serf  was  exposed 
have  been  done  away,  and  obstacles  to  passing  from  one 
social  grade  to  another  are  far  slighter  than  was  formerly 
the  case.  The  accident  of  favour  from  a  patron  had  much 
to  do  in  the  past  with  the  promotion  of  individuals,  even  in 
the  most  democratic  of  professions  —  the  Church.  There  has 
been  a  conscious  effort  in  our  days  to  create  a  system  which 
shall  offer  an  opportunity  to  the  most  energetic  to  rise  out 
of  their  class  into  a  higher  grade,  by  their  merits  and  apart 
from  favour.  But  the  principle  of  division  of  employments 
and  division  of  labour  has  come  into  increasing  operation 
since  medieval  times;  and  its  tendency  is  to  accentuate 
and  perpetuate  the  severance  of  classes,  by  introducing  real 
differences  of  thought  and  habit.  Class  distinctions,  if  less 
apparent  than  they  were  when  marked  by  special  kinds  of 
attire,  are  no  less  real.  In  some  respects  they  are  deeper 
than  they  used  to  be  when  a  seven  years'  apprenticeship 
was  the  similar  mode  of  admission  into  a  great  variety  of 
different  callings. 

123.     While  laying  stress  on  the  economic  importance 
of  the  division  of  employments  and  of  labour,    capital  in 
Adam  Smith  does  not  fail  to  allude    to  its   the  doth 

...  LL  K        \  1      •  trade  and  its 

necessary  conditions.        As  the  accumulation   services  to 
of  stock,"  he  says,   "must,  in  the  nature  of   labour, 
"things  be  previous  to  the  division  of  labour,  so  labour  can 
"be  more  and  more  subdivided  in  proportion  only  as  stock 


202     Outlines  of  English  hidiistrial  History.    [Chap. 

"  is  previously  more  and  more  accumulated  "  (  Wealth  of  Na- 
tions, Book  II,  introduction).  He  thus  fully  recognises  that 
division  of  labour  cannot  be  introduced  spontaneously. 
It  is  only  under  certain  conditions  that  it  is  possible;  only 
under  favourable  conditions  that  it  can  be  carried  a  step 
farther.  How  far  labour  can  be  profitably  divided,  de- 
pends on  the  extent  of  the  market,  or,  to  put  it  otherwise, 
on  the  scale  on  which  business  can  be  organised.  It  cannot 
be  organised  on  a  large  scale  without  capital.  This  is  an 
essential  condition  for  the  minute  division  of  labour  in 
modern  times;  it  is  only  through  the  existence  of  capital 
that  labour  obtains  its  greatest  degree  of  skill  and  efificiency. 
Not  only  is  this  so,  but  in  the  progress  of  the  industrial 
arts  capital  has  come  to  take  an  ever  increasing  part  in  the 
work  of  production,  and  to  interfere  more  and  more  with 
the  unaided  efforts  of  labour.  To  some  extent  it  has  facili- 
tated them,  and  to  some  extent  it  has  superseded  them; 
in  fact  these  two  things  must  go  together  — ■  to  render  labour 
more  easy  is  to  leave  less  scope  for  the  exertion  of  labourers 
in  any  given  piece  of  work. 

If  we  go  back  to  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest  we 
find  a  marked  contrast  with  our  own  day.  Industry  was 
then  practically  altogether  independent  of  capital.  The 
labourer  possessed  a  few  tools,  as  he  does  now,  but  this 
was  his  only  stock  in  trade,  and  wealthy  men  did  not 
use  their  money  in  industrial  labour  so  as  to  procure  a 
revenue.  Industrial  capital,  in  the  modern  sense,  was  un- 
known —  even  after  economic  freedom  had  made  some 
advance.  We  may  picture  the  medieval  artisan  to  our- 
selves —  in  so  far  as  a  money  economy  had  come  in  —  as  a 
man  who  had  to  spend  much  time  in  trying  to  dispose  of 
his  wares.  Hereward  visited  William's  camp  as  a  potter, 
and   manv   craftsmen   must   have   been,   to    some    extent, 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  203 

pedlars  or  have  visited  fairs,  in  order  that  they  might  dis- 
pose of  their  goods.  In  other  cases  we  may  think  of  them 
as  men  who  had  to  wander  about  in  search  of  custom,  as 
travelling  tailors  did  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century. 
Under  these  circumstances  there  was  no  capitalist  tailor, 
for  the  customer  supplied  the  materials,  and  furnished  food 
while  the  work  was  being  done.  There  was  no  middleman 
and  no  employer,  in  the  modern  sense,  for  the  artisan 
was  in  direct  communication  with  the  consumer.  But 
whatever  may  have  been  the  advantages  of  this  system  it 
certainly  had  its  disadvantages  —  the  craftsman  who  wanted 
to  sell  the  product  of  his  labour  passed  much  of  his 
time  in  seeking  for  custom.  He  could  not  devote  all  his 
strength  to  the  execution  of  his  work.  This  must  have  in- 
volved much  anxiety  and  waste  of  time  to  individuals, 
and  would  be  a  considerable  loss  to  society  when  there 
were  still  few  suitable  markets  for  labour  and  its  products. 
Whatever  the  disadvantages  of  present  conditions  may  be, 
it  is  at  least  an  advantage  that  the  craftsman  can  spend  his 
time  on  the  work  at  which  he  is  really  good,  while  he  is 
not  so  constantly  and  habitually  diverting  his  energies  to 
the  search  for  employment.  Through  the  intervention  of  a 
middleman  between  the  consumer  and  the  producer,  the 
craftsman  is  able  to  concentrate  his  energies  on  that  for 
which  he  is  really  skilled. 

The  increasing  intervention  of  capitalists  in  the  staple 
industry   of    England  —  the    manufacture    of   ,,    .^  ,. 

•'  °  Capitalism 

cloth  —  has  been  traced  with  great  clearness   in  supplying 
by  Professor  Ashley.     He  shows  that,  in  all   employment, 
probability,  the  different  branches  of  labour  requisite  for 
turning  out  a  properly  finished  piece  of  cloth  were  carried 
on  as  separate  industries  by  independent  workmen  —  with 
apprentices  and  journeymen  in  their  houses  —  till  the  middle 


204    Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

of  the  fourteenth  century.  The  weaver  bought  wool  or 
yarn,  and  made  the  cloth.  He  sold  it  to  the  fuller  who 
worked  it  into  a  close  fabric;  it  was  then  sold  to  the  shear- 
man, who  smoothed  the  nap  with  his  heavy  shears  and 
turned  it  out  ready  for  the  purchaser.  The  relations  of 
these  trades  to  one  another  are  not  quite  clear,  and  it  is 
probable  that  they  varied,  at  different  times,  even  in  the 
same  place.  It  is  quite  likely  that  the  weaver  sometimes 
employed  shearmen  and  fullers  for  the  work  they  did  on 
the  cloth  he  had  made  and  which  he  proceeded  to  sell.  But 
in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  we  find  traces  of 
a  class  called  drapers,  who  seem  to  have  been  merchants. 
They  bought  cloth  from  the  weavers  or  fullers,  and  then 
supplied  it  to  customers  in  distant  markets.  Their  inter- 
vention was  only  natural  when  the  English  began  to  do  a 
considerable  export  trade  in  cloth.  The  weavers  and  fullers 
had  no  direct  access  to  foreign  markets,  nor  even  to  those 
distant  English  towns  to  which  the  draper  might  send  their 
wares. 

This  system,  or  something  very  closely  resembling  it, 
appears  to  have  continued  in  Yorkshire  till  the  present 
century.  The  weavers  worked  on  their  own  account  in  the 
country  round  about  the  towns,  and  brought  in  the  cloths 
to  sell  to  merchants  at  the  Hall  in  Halifax  or  the  Bridge 
at  Leeds.  But  in  the  Eastern  Counties  and  other  parts  of 
England  the  trade  had  been  organised  in  a  different  fashion 
as  early  as  Tudor  times.  The  clothier,  in  ordinary  par- 
lance,^ was  an  employer  who  arranged  the  whole  trade  in 
its  various  branches.  He  delivered  wool  to  the  weavers, 
and  employed  carders,  spinners,  dyers,  fullers  and  other 
workmen.     These   master   clothiers   organised    the   whole 

1  According  to  Yorkshire  usage  the  term  clothier  was  used  for  a 
domestic  weaver,  who  sold  his  goods  to  a  merchant. 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  205 

manufacture  as  a  modern  employer  does.  Some  of  them, 
like  Stump  of  Malmesbury  and  John  Winchcombe  of 
Newbury,  were  the  owners  of  establishments  which  closely 
resembled  factories.  They  came  more  and  more  into  pro- 
minence during  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
though  an  attempt  was  made  to  put  them  down  in  rural 
districts  under  Philip  and  Mary,  there  were  numerous 
exemptions,  and  the  measure  was  repealed  under  James  1. 
From  that  time  it  appears  that  the  clothing  trade,  through- 
out the  greater  part  of  England,  was  organised  on  capitalist 
lines,  as  the  clothier  furnished  the  materials,  arranged  for 
the  various  processes,  and  sold  the  finished  product.  The 
weaver  had  neither  to  busy  himself  about  securing  and  pre- 
paring materials,  nor  about  finding  customers  for  his  goods 
when  they  were  woven;  he  might  actually  do  his  work  at 
home,  but,  so  far  as  economic  relations  were  concerned,  he 
was  working  for  an  employer. 

From  Yorkist  and  Tudor  times  there  is  evidence  of 
difficulties  between  the  weavers  and  the  master  clothiers. 
On  the  one  hand  there  was  often  doubt  as  to  the  honesty 
of  the  weavers  who  were  accused  of  embezzling  materials, 
and  on  the  other,  there  is  a  long  series  of  acts  against 
'truck,'  as  the  clothiers  were  apt  to  pay  in  goods  and  not 
in  money.  Still,  though  the  domestic  system  held  its 
ground  in  Yorkshire  till  the  present  century,  we  can  see 
that  it  had  grave  disadvantages,  and  that  the  Yorkshiremen 
must  have  spent  a  good  deal  of  their  time  —  one  day  or 
more  a  week — in  getting  materials  and  frequenting  the 
Cloth  Hall,  while  all  this  was  more  likely  to  be  saved  by 
workmen  elsewhere,  who  got  employment  from  a  master 
clothier. 

124.  The  next  form  in  which  we  find  the  intervention 
of  capital  is  in  supplying  implements  for  doing  the  work. 


2o6     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.      [Chap. 

The  master  clothiers  appear  to  have  undertaken  this  func- 
Capitai  as  ^^^^  ^^  Tudor  times,   for  they  owned  looms 

supplying  im-  at  which  their  employes  worked,  they  pos- 
p  ements.  sessed  fulling  mills,  and  they  used  gig  mills; 

the  latter  were  condemned  under  Edward  VI  as  injurious, 
since  they  did  the  work  badly.  But  the  whole  step  be- 
comes clearer  in  another  trade  which  was,  from  the  first, 
a  machine  industry.  Knitting  and  lace  work  were  carried 
on  by  means  of  frames  invented  by  Mr.  Lee,  in  the 
time  of  Elizabeth.  Like  many  inventors  he  derived  little 
benefit  from  his  ingenuity,  but  within  half  a  century  of 
his  death  the  trade  began  to  flourish  greatly,  both  in 
London  and  Nottingham.  The  attempts  of  the  Framework 
Knitters  Company  to  regulate  the  industry  in  the  interest 
of  the  journeymen  were  not  very  successful;  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century  many  abuses  began  to  show  them- 
selves, and  the  workers  were  in  a  most  distressed  con- 
dition. One  of  the  chief  complaints  arose  from  the  large 
number  of  apprentices,  so  that  trained  workmen  were 
deprived  of  opportunities  of  employment;  they  felt  it  a 
bitter  grievance  that,  even  while  little  work  was  given  out  to 
them,  they  should  be  charged  regularly  for  frame  rents.  The 
frame  was  an  implement  worked  by  hand,  and  there  were 
few  attempts  to  introduce  power,  or  to  modify  the  organi- 
sation of  the  trade  till  after  1840.  But  at  all  periods  of  bad 
trade  complaints  of  the  same  sort  were  heard.  Dissatis- 
faction broke  out  in  a  violent  form  in  18 16,  at  the  time  of 
the  Luddite  riots,  when  numbers  of  frames  were  broken; 
the  disturbances  were  skilfully  organised  and  seem  to  have 
been  carefully  directed  against  those  frame  owners  who  were 
specially  unpopular. 

125.     In  this  particular  instance  of  framework  knitting, 
the  implement,  which  the  capitalists  hired   out    to    their 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  207 

workers,  did  not  supersede  labour  at  all.  It  was  an  inven- 
tion which  called  a  new  industry  into  being,  ^j^^  depend- 
and  this  may  be  noted  as  an  early  instance  of  ence  of  labour 
a  trade  that  was  completely  organised  on  capi-  °"  capita  . 
talist  lines.  The  employer  not  only  found  a  market  for  the 
goods,  and  supplied  materials,  but  he  furnished  the  neces- 
sary implements  as  well.  Capital  had  intervened  on  every 
side  of  the  labourer's  life  and  furnished  the  means  by  which 
the  workman  could  devote  himself  exclusively  to  his  proper 
calling.  The  division  of  labour  was  carried  very  far  under 
the  master  clothiers.^  The  steady  progress,  in  favour  of  this 
type  of  organisation,  may  be  said  to  prove  that  it  has  had 
distinct  advantages,  that  the  public  are  better  served  by  its 
means  than  they  could  ever  be  by  the  labour  of  isolated 
workmen,  each  conducting  his  business,  in  all  its  sides,  on 
his  own  account.  But  if  great  advantages  have  accrued 
through  the  intervention  of  capital,  there  are  also  risks  of 
serious  danger.  New  facilities  are  given  for  the  doing  of 
work,  but  the  workman  becomes  dependent  on  his  em- 
ployer, for  materials,  for  the  opportunity  of  employment, 
and  for  implements  of  labour.  The  period  of  the  industrial 
revolution  showed,  on  the  one  hand,  the  ability  of  capitalists 
to  take  advantage  of  new  powers  and  new  methods,  but  it 
also  brought  into  clear  light  the  reality  of  the  dangers  which 
are  likely  to  arise  under  a  system  of  capitalist  production, 
unless  care  is  taken  to  guard  against  them. 

There  is  a  certain  parallel  between  the  changes  which 
have  been  described  in  connexion  with  agri-   Comparison 
culture,  and  those  which  occurred  through  the     e^^^^"  ^s"- 

'  o  culture  and 

capitalist  organisation  of  industry.     Medieval   industry, 
tillage  was  subsistence  farming;  the  modern  agriculturist 
is  a  trader  who  looks  to  the  market  for  his  returns.     In 

1  Reports,  &c.,  1S40,  xxiv.  38S. 


2o8     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chav 

somewhat  similar  fashion,  the  isolated  workman  may  b-* 
said  to  have  laboured  with  a  direct  view  to  subsistence. 
This  work  had  direct  relation  to  some  customer's  wants, 
and  the  price  he  charged  was  directly  calculated  from  the 
food,  &c.  required  during  the  time  of  labour.  Subsistence 
was  recognised  as  a  first  charge,  and  prices  followed  it. 
But  the  drapers,  master  clothiers  and  other  employers  were 
forced  to  look  directly  to  the  markets.  The  time  of  money 
economy  had  come  in  (§  109).  Prices  settled  themselves 
according  to  demand  and  supply.  The  market  might  be 
over-stocked,  or  owing  to  some  unforeseen  accident,  buyers 
might  be  few.  In  either  case  the  clothiers  had  to  take  what 
they  could  get,  and  the  payment  which  could  be  afforded  to 
the  workmen  necessarily  depended  on  prices,  and  varied 
with  them. 

The  two  things  must  always  have  been  closely  con- 
Reasonabie  nected.  Doubtless,  in  medieval  times,  there 
and  compe-        were    many    men   who   were   unable    to    find 

tition  prices.  i       i        i       i  i        •  r  i 

customers,  and  who  had  to  submit  to  forced 
sales;  but  the  principle  on  which  business  was  done  is 
quite  clear.  Every  effort  was  made  to  prevent  the  sale  of 
English  goods  abroad,  unless  the  price  obtained  was  really 
remunerative.  Every  effort  was  made  to  fix  the  price  of 
goods  so  that  the  artisan  might  get  a  'reasonable  '  reward 
for  his  trouble.  Prices  were,  so  far  as  possible,  adapted  to 
the  labourer's  requirements,  though  doubtless  the  policy  was 
not  always  successfully  applied  to  practice.  But  with  the 
intervention  of  capital,  the  old  relations  have  necessarily 
been  reversed.  The  effort,  now,  is  to  force  a  market  and 
to  secure  a  sale  by  producing  cheaply.  There  is  a  con- 
stant tendency  to  cut  prices  down,  and  the  reward  of  the 
labourer  necessarily  follows  the  operations  of  the  capitalist. 
In  old  days  when  wages  were  practically  fixed,  the  require- 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  209 

ments  of  the  labourer  were  a  first  charge,  and  this  must 
have  tended  to  steady  prices;  but  now  that  prices  fluctuate 
greatly,  the  condition  of  the  labourer  is  directly  affected  by 
them.  While  we  may  fully  recognise  all  the  advantages 
that  have  come  to  the  labourer  through  the  introduction  of 
a  money  economy,  we  should  also  take  note  of  the  dis- 
advantages as  well.  The  modern  labourer  who  is  econo- 
mically free  (§  66)  has  many  advantages  over  the  medieval 
serf;  he  can  go  where  he  hopes  to  improve  his  position  and 
make  his  own  bargain  in  definite  terms  for  definite  pay 
(§  109).  His  relations  with  his  master  are  very  precise  —  as 
between  man  and  man;  but  his  opportunities  of  employ- 
ment and  his  daily  bread  are  dependent  on  the  changing 
conditions  of  trade  in  distant  lands.  He  has  gained  in 
independence,  and  in  the  precision  of  the  terms  of  employ- 
ment, but  he  has  lost  the  comparative  stability  of  his  former 
condition  (§  130). 

These  two  views  of  the  manner  in  which  trade  may  be 
most  wisely  conducted  correspond  with  the  Good  and 
different  conceptions  of  the  meaning  of  pros-  ''^d  trade, 
perity  in  trade.  We  may  have  a  period  of  slow  and  steady 
development;  this  means  stability  in  the  employment  and 
remuneration  of  the  labourer;  and  regular,  though  not 
large,  returns  to  capital.  It  is  good  for  both.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  have,  from  any  cause,  a  period  of  rapid 
fluctuations  when  prices  vary  a  great  deal,  the  labourer 
benefits  very  little,  and  many  capitalists  may  suffer  serious 
loss :  but  the  far-seeing  and  successful  man,  who  is  able  to 
take  advantage  of  the  change,  may  gain  enormously.  We 
may  mean  by  good  trade,  a  time  when  there  is  steady  and 
slow  development,  or  a  time  when  the  enterprising  specu- 
lator can  make  his  fortune  rapidly.  The  latter  is,  at  all 
events,  a  time  of  apparent  prosperity.     Sudden  accumula- 


2IO     Out  lilies  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

tions  of  great  wealth  strike  the  public  imagination,  but  they 
are  not  always  symptoms  of  a  really  healthy  condition  of 
trade.  The  fortunes  made  by  the  East  India  Company's 
servants  in  India  entirely  misled  the  shareholders  and  the 
public  at  home,  as  to  the  real  character  of  the  trade  of  the 
Company.  During  the  Napoleonic  wars  there  were  unex- 
pected facilities  and  chances  for  the  sale  of  English  goods 
at  monopoly  prices  all  over  the  world,  and  this  gave  an  un- 
exampled opportunity  for  the  making  of  fortunes.  As  we 
look  back  on  that  time  we  may  see  that  it  was  really  a 
period  of  unhealthy  inflation,  followed  by  a  sudden  reac- 
tion, that  was  very  injurious  to  all  persons  engaged  in  trade. 
126.  Men  are  never  tired  of  repeating  the  truism  that 
the  interests  of  capital  and  labour  are  really 

The  conflict-  .,■,,,  •         ,  , 

ing  interests  of  o^e.     It   IS   obvious  that  both  gain  through 
Capital  and        t^g  prosperity  of   trade,  and  that   both  lose 

Labour.  ,  .       ,  ^  .  ,  , 

when  It  declines.  If  rum  overtakes  the  capi- 
talist, the  labourer  is  thrown  out  of  employment;  if  the 
workmen  are  ill-fed  and  incompetent,  the  capitalist  cannot 
prosper.  In  the  long  run,  or  over  a  period  of  years,  the 
interests  of  the  two  parties  are  similar;  but  at  no  point  of 
time  are  they  identical.  They  are  always  distinct  and,  at 
any  given  moment,  the  difference  may  come  prominently 
into  view.  The  immediate  interest  of  the  one  is  not  the 
immediate  interest  of  the  other;  and  there  is  always  danger 
of  conflict  when  one  of  the  two  is  called  upon  to  sacrifice 
his  immediate  interest  in  favour  of  the  prospective  interest 
of  both.  When  the  element  of  time  is  properly  introduced, 
it  is  a  mere  paradox  to  assert  that  the  interests  of  capital 
and  labour  are  the  same;  they  are  constantly  distinct  and 
frequently  opposed  to  each  other. 

The  immediate  interest  of  the  labourer  tempts  him  to 
do  as  little  as  he  can  for  the  money  he  receives.     If  wages 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  211 

are  good,  he  is  able  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  pure  idleness, 
and  to  obtain  as  much  subsistence  as  he  desires  by  working 
for  half  the  week.  Such  a  course  of  action  may  even  appear 
to  be  unselfish  and  commendable;  for  if  employment  can 
be  regarded  as  a  constant  quantity,  and  each  man  does 
very  little,  then  there  will  be  need  for  the  services  of  a 
larger  number,  and  work  and  pay  will  be  distributed  among 
a  greater  number  of  applicants.  But  irregular  and  ineffi- 
cient work  is  very  costly,  and  is  almost  certain  to  increase 
the  expense  of  production;  it  is  likely  to  lead  to  a  contrac- 
tion of  trade  and  to  a  diminution  in  the  amount  of  avail- 
able employment.  In  a  somewhat  similar  fashion,  the  im- 
mediate interest  of  labourers  tempts  them  to  demand  a  rise 
of  wages  in  the  expectation  that  prices  can  be  raised  without 
any  diminution  of  demand,  or  of  the  field  for  employment. 
This  may  hold  good  when  producers  have  a  monopoly, 
either  temporary  or  permanent,  in  an  article  of  general 
demand;  but  under  ordinary  circumstances  it  cannot  take 
place.  A  demand  for  higher  wages  will  probably  lead  to  a 
contraction  of  the  demand  and  a  diminution  of  employment, 
or  to  a  reduction  of  wages.  It  is  obvious  that  labourers  may 
pursue  their  immediate  interest  so  far  as  to  damage  a  trade 
and  to  render  a  serious  loss  of  wages  and  of  employment 
inevitable. 

Similarly  the  capitalist  may  pursue  his  immediate  interest 
so  as  to  damage  trade.  It  is  always  his  im-  Ruinous 
mediate  interest  to  produce  as  inexpensively  competition, 
as  possible,  so  as  to  command  as  large  a  market  as  may  be. 
It  is  always  possible  to  supply  a  low  priced  article,  by 
producing  an  inferior  quality,  and  it  is  sometimes  possible 
to  reduce  the  cost  of  production  at  the  expense  of  the 
labourer  —  by  sweating.  Both  expedients  result  in  an 
immediate  gain,  and  both  are  ultimately  disastrous.     When 


212     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

masters  produce  an  inferior  quality,  the  reputation  of  the 
trade  suffers;  and  sweating  tells,  sooner  or  later,  on  the 
efficiency  of  the  class  who  have  to  submit  to  it.  Either 
labourer  or  capitalist  may  positively  injure  an  industry  by 
the  short-sighted  pursuit  of  their  immediate  interest. 

Since  the  immediate  interests  of  capital  and  labour  are 
distinct  and  often  opposed,  it  need  not  be  a  matter  of 
surprise  that  men  of  one  class  or  the  other  should,  in  all 
good  faith,  make  different  forecasts  as  to  the  best  course  to 
be  pursued  for  the  good  of  industry.  By  the  latter  part  of 
the  last  century  labour  had  become,  as  we  have  seen,  largely 
dependent  on  capital.  Capitalists  were,  generally  speak- 
ing, in  a  position  to  give  effect  to  their  views  of  what  was 
best  for  trade.  They  might  well  believe  that  the  course 
they  pursued  was  not  a  selfish  one,  but  was  really  for 
the  ultimate  well-being  of  labour.  If  trade  was  bad  they 
were  inclined  to  reduce  the  rates  of  wages,  in  the  hope 
that  by  cheaper  production  they  would  be  able  to  secure 
increased  sales.  The  alternative  course,  that  of  reducing 
the  quantities  produced  in  the  hope  that  prices  would 
rise  again,  meant  that  machinery  would  stand  idle,  and 
also  that  workmen  would  be  thrown  out  of  employment. 
There  were  immediate  and  obvious  disasters  to  all  parties 
in  the  trade;  the  hardship  to  the  labourers  of  working 
at  starvation  rates  might  well  appear  to  be  a  lesser  evil 
than  that  which  must  ensue  from  throwing  numbers  out  of 
employment  altogether.  The  evil  results  of  the  depressed 
condition  of  the  labourer  seemed  remote  and  uncertain, 
while  the  bad  effects  of  reducing  production  were  manifest 
and  near  at  hand.  It  thus  came  about  that  during  the 
uncertainties  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  and  in  the  terrible 
depression  which  followed,  workmen,  in  one  trade  after 
another,  were  forced  to  submit  to  very  considerable  reduc- 


L\.]  Labour  and  Capital.  213 

tions  of  wages.  So  long  as  it  was  possible  to  provide 
employment,  though  at  starvation  rates,  the  masters  be- 
lieved it  to  be  best  to  spread  work  among  as  many  as 
they  could,  so  that  every  family  should  earn  something 
however  small.  Hence  from  another  side  the  mistaken 
philanthropy  of  the  masters  resulted  in  a  policy  which 
resembled  the  short-sighted  schemes  of  the  men.  The 
v/orkers  have  sometimes  wished  to  distribute  a  (supposed) 
fixed  quantity  of  work  among  as  many  men  as  possible, 
so  that  the  aggregate  earnings  of  all  might  increase;  the 
masters  tried  to  distribute  a  diminishing  quantity  of  work 
among  a  large  number,  so  that  no  one  should  be  absolutely 
destitute. 

The  period  of  depression,  with  all  the  poverty  that  ac- 
companied it,  continued  for  many  years  (p.  88).  We  are 
apt  to  rush  to  the  conclusion  that  this  was  due  to  the 
introduction  of  machinery,  but  the  more  the  facts  are  looked 
at  in  detail  the  less  satisfactory  does  this  explanation  ap- 
pear. The  celebrated  strike  of  the  Bradford  wool-combers 
(1825)  occurred  in  a  trade  where  starvation  rates  were  being 
paid,  but  where  there  was  no  real  competition  with  ma- 
chinery till  a  later  time.  The  framework  knitters  in  1845 
were  not  suffering  from  any  new  reduction,  but  from  con- 
ditions of  trade  brought  on  by  reckless  competition,  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  the  starvation  rates  paid  to  cotton 
weavers  in  1806.  They  suffered  because  it  appeared  from 
time  to  time  to  be  necessary  to  cut  down  wages,  and  there 
was  little,  if  any,  subsequent  recovery. 

This  line  of  policy  had  the  approval  of   the  leading 
economists  of  the  day.     They  were  all  extreme     Doctrinaire 
advocates  of  laissez  faire ;  they  saw  that  the     economists, 
intervention  of   capital  had   been  very  beneficial    to  the 
public  at  large.     And,  having  a  firm  belief  in  the  power  of 


:/ 


214     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

the  capitalist  to  judge  of  the  prospects  of  trade,  they  thought 
it  best  that  he  should  have  a  perfectly  free  hand. 

At  this  juncture  the  working  classes  were  in  a  position 
which  rendered  it  very  difficult  for  them  to  state  their  views 
as  a  class,  or  to  offer  any  resistance  to  the  demands  made 
on  them.  The  Combination  Law  of  1800  had  been  passed 
under  the  influence  of  political  panic.  It  condemned  as 
criminal  the  conduct  of  artisans  who  took  action  which 
might  strengthen  their  position  in  bargaining  with  their 
employers.  The  labourers  were  forced  to  submit,  but  a 
sense  of  the  disabilities  to  which  they  were  exposed  and 
of  the  gross  injustice  which  might  be  done  them  under  this 
one-sided  law,  made  them  very  bitter,  while  the  employers 
were  not  unnaturally  suspicious  of  the  influence  of  illegal 
associations.  The  measure  was,  in  all  probability,  quite 
ineffective  for  checking  real  treason,  but  it  bred  an  amount 
of  class  jealousy  and  mutual  suspicion  which  has  wrought 
infinite  mischief. 

Under  the  policy  of  the  employers,  approved  by  doc- 
trinaire economists  and  unchecked  by  effective  criticism 
from  the  labourers,  results  came  to  light  which  roused 
public  indignation.  It  became  obvious  that  the  course  they 
were  pursuing,  on  laissez  faire  principles,  was  leading  to  the 
moral  and  physical  degradation  of  the  English  population; 
and  it  seemed  necessary  for  Parliament  to  interfere  and  to 
put  an  effective  check  on  some  of  the  deleterious  tendencies 
which  were  at  work. 

127.  The  great  development  of  machinery  in  the  textile 
trades  gave  opportunity  for  the  employment 
physical  of  children  on  a  large  scale;  numbers  of  them 

degradation.  ^yerc  engaged  in  work  in  every  factory.  Their 
condition  attracted  public  attention  again  and  again,  and 
it  was,  in  many  ways,  very  bad.     At  the  same  time  it  may 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  215 

be  doubted  how  far  it  was  really  worse  than  that  of  other 
children,  who  were  employed  by  the  domestic  weaver  at 
home  or  as  helpers  in  other  trades.  So  far  as  it  is  possible 
to  compare  the  two  in  18 16,  the  factory  child  was  in  better 
sanitary  conditions  and  was  better  fed  than  the  child  em- 
ployed at  weavers'  homes.  The  earnings  were  better;  but 
the  life  was  rougher,  and  the  regular  strain  was  greater. 
The  worst  cases  of  child  suffering  were  not  in  factories  of  any 
kind,  but  in  connexion  with  chimney  sweeping.  The  em- 
ployment was  dangerous  to  life  and  limb,  and  rendered  the 
young  specially  liable  to  very  painful  diseases.  There  must 
have  been  an  immense  amount  of  cruelty  at  times  in  forcing 
them  to  undertake  such  tasks.  Still,  without  laying  stress 
on  such  comparisons,  it  is  clear  that  the  condition  of  fac- 
tory children  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  was  so  bad, 
that  it  was  wise  for  government  to  interfere,  and,  in  the 
interest  of  the  future  well-being  of  the  population,  to  check 
the  tendencies  at  work  under  the  influence  of  free  compe- 
tition. Even  the  most  uncompromising  advocates  of  laissez 
/aire  were  willing  to  recognise  that  this  was  a  legitimate  case 
for  intervention.  The  children  did  not  and  could  not  make 
their  own  bargains.  They  were  not  free  agents  in  entering 
into  any  agreement;  they  were  sent  to  the  factories  by  their 
parents,  or  by  parochial  authorities.  Hence  those  who 
argued  that  each  adult  ought  to  make  his  own  bargain  for 
himself,  were  ready  to  legislate  for  the  protection  of  children. 
The  first  great  measure  on  behalf  of  factory  children 
was  brought  in  and  carried  by  a  mill  owner;  Factory 
it  was  not  the  result  of  outside  agitation.  Sir  apprentices. 
Robert  Peel,  father  of  the  great  statesman,  felt  that  the  con- 
dition of  the  apprentice  children  in  his  own  cotton  mills  was 
not  what  he  could  desire,  and  he  found  himself  unable  to 
exercise  efficient  supervision.    He  therefore  introduced  and 


2i6     Outlines  of  Engl  is  Ji  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

carried,  apparently  without  any  diiificulty,  a  bill  for  the  regu- 
lation of  the  condition  of  the  apprentices  in  the  cotton 
trade  (1802).  The  clothes  they  should  receive,  the  meals 
they  should  have,  and  the  conditions  of  their  dormitories 
were  carefully  specified;  the  bill  also  insisted  that  adequate 
opportunities  should  be  given  for  their  instruction.  The 
measure  has  reference  to  a  state  of  society  when  appren- 
ticeship was  not  only  a  time  for  learning  a  trade,  but  also  a 
time  for  training  in  regular  habits  of  life  under  a  master's 
eye;  and  it  was  intended  to  secure  that  the  colonies  of 
children  attached  to  cotton  mills  should  not  be  deprived  of 
similar  advantages.  This  act  had  many  beneficial  results  for 
a  time,  but  there  were  rapid  changes  in  the  condition  of  the 
trade  which  rendered  it  inoperative  before  many  years  had 
passed.  The  system  of  legal  apprenticeship  was  abolished 
in  1 8 14,  and  as  the  children  employed  in  factories  were  no 
longer  apprentices,  the  measure  designed  for  their  protec- 
tion ceased  to  be  applicable.  In  1816  Sir  Robert  Peel 
moved  in  the  matter  again;  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 
mass  of  interesting  evidence  on  the  condition  of  factories, 
but  no  important  legislatioli  occurred  till  1833. 

In  1832  the  case  of  the  factory  children  was  taken 
Official  up  by  Lord  Ashley  (afterwards  Lord  Shaftes- 
enquiries.  bury)  and  Others,  and  a  Select  Committee  took 
evidence  as  to  their  physical  condition.  The  revela- 
tions made  were  shocking  in  the  extreme,  and  aroused  a 
storm  of  indignation  among  philanthropists  and  the  public. 
There  was  equal  indignation  among  the  mill  owners,  who 
had  not  had  the  opportunity  of  being  heard,  and  who  held 
that  the  case  brought  before  the  Committee  was  not  merely 
one-sided,  but  grossly  exaggerated.  A  Commission  was 
therefore  appointed  to  take  evidence  on  the  spot,  and 
though    it   showed    that   the    statements   made  before  the 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  217 

Select  Committee  were  not  trustworthy,  it  established  a 
very  serious  need  for  interference.  The  physical  mischief, 
resulting  from  the  long  hours  during  which  children  and 
women  worked,  was  very  noticeable,  and  there  was  every 
reason  to  fear  a  serious  deterioration  in  the  physique  of  a 
large  portion  of  the  population,  if  protection  were  not 
extended  to  the  young  and  to  the  mothers  of  the  next 
generation.  'The  special  evils  differed  in  different  trades. 
In  the  woollen  trade  the  processes  of  sorting  and  preparing 
the  wool  were  specially  dirty  and  offensive.  In  the  linen 
trade  the  mischief  was  of  a  different  kind,  as  flax  was  spun 
when  wet,  and  those  who  worked  in  the  mills  were  apt  to 
get  their  clothing  thoroughly  soaked;  even  if  properly  pro- 
tected, they  still  had  to  work  in  a  reeking  atmosphere  and 
on  sloppy  floors.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  dust  in  some 
of  the  rooms  in  cotton  mills,  though,  perhaps,  they  were 
hardly  so  objectionable  as  those  devoted  to  similar  pro- 
cesses in  the  linen  trade.  But,  though  some  mills  were 
well  managed  and  others  badly,  there  were  certain  points 
in  which  all  showed  room  for  improvement.  Children 
were  employed  much  too  young,  and  the  strain  for  women 
of  standing  and  stooping  for  long  hours  was  very  inju- 
rious. 

So  far  as  the  early  age  of  employment  was  concerned, 
the  mill  owners  were  not  specially  to  blame;  it  was  no 
advantage  to  them  to  take  children  very  young.  The 
pressure  came  from  parents  and  poor  law  authorities,  who 
wished  to  make  the  children  earn  something  and  to  get 
them  off  their  hands  at  the  earliest  possible  age.  As  to  the 
length  of  hours,  the  owners  also  protested  that  they  were  not 
altogether  free  agents.  Competition  with  foreign  countries 
was  very  keen;  spinning  was  barely  remunerative,  and  if  the 
hours  of  labour  were  shortened,  and  the  output  reduced. 


2i8     Oiitlincs  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap.. 

they  feared  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  them  to  carry 
on  business  at  all.  The  expectation  of  philanthropists  that 
English  spinners  could  raise  prices,  if  they  liked,  was  not 
justified,  but  on  the  other  hand  there  has  been  such  an 
increase  of  efficiency  that  the  worst  forebodings  of  the  manu- 
facturers have  not  been  realised.  The  commissioners  hoped 
it  might  be  possible  to  organise  double  shifts,  so  that  the 
machinery  might  continue  to  run  for  long  hours,  while  the 
women  and  children  were  not  overstrained.  This  system 
had  been  adopted  in  some  mills,  but  there  were  grave 
difificulties  in  the  way  of  carrying  it  into  effect  at  all 
generally.  The  result  of  the  investigation  was  the  Factory 
Act  of  1833,  which  only  allowed  the  employment  of 
children  over  nine  years  of  age,  and  reduced  their  hours  of 
work  to  forty-eight  in  the  week.  By  far  the  most  impor- 
tant work  accomplished  by  this  Act  consisted  of  the  new 
means  of  administration  which  it  created.  There  had  been 
difficulties  in  enforcing  previous  measures,  and  by  calling 
into  being  a  body  of  inspectors,  who  had  authority  to  see 
that  the  act  was  carried  out,  an  important  step  was  taken 
towards  putting  down  the  worst  abuses  and  for  suggesting 
and  securing  gradual  improvement. 

These  inspectors  have,  at  least,  been  able  to  attend 
Carelessness  to  ouc  poiut  on  which  the  employers  appear 
about  ma-  to  have  been  careless  —  the  proper  fencing  of 

machinery.  The  number  of  cripples  who  had 
been  injured  by  accidents  in  mills  was  a  matter  which  had 
specially  roused  public  feeling;  in  this  particular  Bradford 
had  an  unenviable  notoriety.  P^ven  though  there  seems  to 
have  been  some  exaggeration  in  the  representations  made 
on  this  point,  there  was  a  considerable  foundation  in  fact. 
Wherever  the  blame  may  have  rested,  the  effects  of  in- 
creased care  in  this  respect  have  been  very  noticeable. 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  219 

The  outcry  which  had  been  raised  about  children  in 
factories  was  followed  by  an  investigation  into  children  in 
the  conditions  of  child  labour  elsewhere.  It  mines, 
was,  indeed,  high  time,  for  the  state  of  things  in  mines  was 
far  more  serious  than  anything  that  had  come  out  about  the 
factories  generally.  The  new  limitations  on  employment 
in  factories  led  to  some  increase  of  the  evils  in  mines;  for 
parents  who  had  the  opportunity  of  sending  children,  ex- 
cluded from  factories,  to  work  in  mines,  were  glad  to  do 
so.  The  long  hours  in  the  darkness  and  the  heavy  work  in 
pushing  trucks  were  very  injurious,  while  the  manner  in 
which  women  were  employed  was  brutalising.  The  regu- 
lation and  inspection  of  mines  was  a  necessary  develop- 
ment of  the  regulation  of  factories,  and  could  be  justified 
on  exactly  similar  grounds.  In  all  these  cases,  it  seemed 
to  be  necessary  for  the  State  to  interfere  to  check  the 
moral,  physical  and  social  evils  which  had  arisen  under  the 
regime  of  free  competition. 

128.     So  far  we  have  considered  the  capitalist  system, 
and  the  evils  which  arose  in  connexion  with     „.  , 

The  course  of 

it,  when  competition  w'as  unchecked.  It  is  the  industrial 
pleasanter  to  turn  to  the  wonderful  series  of  '■ev°i"'*°"- 
inventions  which  were  introduced  with  the  aid  of  capital, 
and  which  so  greatly  increased  human  powers  of  catering 
for  human  needs.  It  may,  perhaps,  be  most  convenient  to 
sketch  the  steps  in  the  changes  very  rapidly,  while  the 
results  of  the  introduction  of  machinery  on  the  employment 
and  remuneration  of  the  labourer  may  be  discussed  when 
we  are  in  a  position  to  review  the  whole  period  of  the 
industrial  revolution. 

The  first  remarkable  invention  which  modified  the  con- 
dition of  the  textile  trades  was  not  so  much  a    The  flying 
new  machine  as   a   better    implement.     The     shuttle. 


220     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

flying  shuttle  did  not  do  the  work  and  was  not,  in  any 
way,  a  substitute  for  skilled  labour.  It  was  distinctly  sub- 
servient to  the  old  forms  of  skill,  and  enabled  the  good 
workman  to  exercise  his  skill  much  more  rapidly  than  be- 
fore. It  first  came  into  use  in  weaving  wide  breadths  of 
cloth.  Hitherto  the  weavers  had  needed  an  assistant  to 
throw  the  shuttle  backwards  and  forwards  across  the  loom, 
but  with  the  help  of  the  flying  shuttle  he  could  throw  it 
backwards  and  forwards  by  himself.  It  enabled  him  to 
work  faster,  and  just  as  well,  while  the  work  was  done  at 
less  cost,  since  there  was  no  need  to  pay  for  help.  The 
effect  upon  the  cloth  trade  was  very  curious.  There  was 
no  increase  in  production,  for  there  was  no  more  wool 
available  than  before,  and  there  was  no  fall  in  the  price  of 
goods.  Nor  was  there  any  change  in  the  rate  at  which  the 
weaver  was  paid  per  piece.  But  the  best  men  could  work 
more  rapidly  than  before;  they  had  more  to  do  and  earned 
very  high  wages,  while  the  inferior  workers  were  hardly 
employed,  and  drifted  into  other  occupations,  especially 
into  cotton  weaving.  The  benefit  from  this  improvement 
did  not  go  to^the  public  in  the  form  of  cheapness,  but  to 
the  best  workmen  who  were  kept  on  in  full  employment. 
They,  as  a  class,  obtained  a  definite  rise  in  the  world,  and 
in  the  subsequent  hard  times  they  seem  to  have  looked 
back  to  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  as  the 
halcyon  period  of  their  trade. 

A  whole  series  of  important  inventions  revolutionised 
Cotton  spinning;  they  were  originally  introduced 
spinning.  jn^o  ^he  cotton  trade  by  Arkwright,  Cromp- 
ton,  and  Hargreaves.  Spinning  is  an  art  which  is  specially 
adapted  for  machinery,  as  the  chief  matter  of  importance 
is  to  obtain  a  regular  and  even  thread.  It  is  an  operation 
in  which  a  mechanical  kind  of  perfection  is  specially  re- 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  221 

quired.  In  1790  Mr.  Kelly  of  Lanark  was  able  to  apply 
water  as  the  motor  power  for  this  machinery,  and  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  business  of  cotton 
spinning  increased  with  very  great  rapidity.  It  had  been 
a  comparatively  small  affair  before,  centred  chiefly  round 
Manchester.  But  with  mechanical  appliances,  yarn  was 
produced  in  vast  quantities,  and  mills  were  erected  in  all 
sorts  of  places.  Derbyshire,  Nottingham,  Worcestershire 
and  other  counties  were,  for  a  time  at  least,  centres  for  this 
trade.  The  spinning  business  flourished  exceedingly;  and 
English  manufacturers  who  were  unable  to  meet  the  foreign 
demands  for  cotton  cloth  sent  large  quantities  of  English 
yarn  to  the  Continent.  So  rapid  was  the  development  of 
the  cotton  industry  that  it  was  practically  a  new  trade 
created  by  the  machinery,  and  the  employment,  which 
it  afforded,  attracted  large  populations  to  settle  near  the 
mills.  So  long  as  water  power  was  used,  the  employes 
were  more  or  less  scattered,  as  the  mills  were  not  grouped 
closely  together,  but  at  different  points  on  the  same  stream 
(§  19).  But  when  steam  power  was  applied  to  machinery, 
the  mills  were  run  up  close  together,  and  population  was 
attracted  to  form  factory  towns. 

The  condition  of  the  children  in  this  newly  developed 
industry  has  been  already  described  (§127);  it  soon  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  legislature;  but  adults  also 
were  exposed  to  much  suffering.  In  the  villages  which 
grew  up  near  water  power  there  was  often  a  difSculty  about 
getting  supplies;  everything  was  dear;  wages  went  but  a 
little  way,  and  the  truck  system  was  soon  in  full  play.  Dis- 
comforts in  the  towns  were  chiefly  due  to  the  jerry  builder; 
cottages  were  run  up,  ill  planned  and  ill  built,  with  a  dis- 
regard of  the  most  elementary  sanitary  requirements.  Not 
until  the  visitation  of  the  cholera  in  1849  ^^'^^^  public  attention 


222     Oiitlijics  of  English  Industrial  Histojy.     [Chap. 

fully  aroused  to  the  dangerous  neglect  which  had  hitherto 
attended  the  housing  of  factory  operatives. 

The  introduction  of  machinery  for  cotton  spinning 
Carding  and  brought  about  a  ncw  and  sudden  develop- 
spinning  wool,  nient.  But  there  is  more  interest  in  tracing 
the  steps  by  which  machinery  was  introduced  into  the 
clothing  trade,  which  had  hitherto  been  the  staple  industry 
of  the  country,  and  which,  in  some  form  or  other,  continued 
to  be  widely  diffused  throughout  a  very  large  area. 

The  machinery  for  carding  wool,  which  was  invented  as 
early  as  1 748,  appears  to  have  been  received  Avith  general 
approbation.  The  spinners  were,  apparently,  glad  to  be 
saved  the  preliminary  processes  in  the  preparation  of  wool, 
and  to  rely  on  the  slubbing  engine.  When  attempts  were 
made  to  adapt  the  spinning  jenny  from  cotton  to  wool, 
there  seems  to  have  been  wonderfully  little  interest  in  the 
matter.  The  invention  spread  but  slowly;  it  was  in  use  in 
Devonshire  in  1791,  but  seems  to  have  been  regarded  as 
quite  a  new  thing  in  the  West  Riding,  when  Mr.  Gott  intro- 
duced it  some  ten  years  later.  Nor  does  it  seem  to  have 
created  much  excitement  in  the  villages.  Spinning  was  very 
badly  paid  in  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  very  difificult  to  get  even  at  the  miserable  rates  of  pay. 
When  allowances  were  granted  in  addition  to  the  labourer's 
wages,  the  family  income  was  made  up  from  another  source, 
and  the  household  did  not  feel  the  loss  due  to  the  cessation 
of  spinning.  Hence  it  seems  that  the  allowance  system 
(p.  94)  tided  over  the  change,  which  was  made  almost  in- 
sensibly. It  is  only  in  18 16,  when  the  transference  of  the 
industry  was  practically  complete,  that  we  hear  of  some  de- 
struction of  machines  for  spinning  wool;  but  this  seems  to 
have  been  a  quite  incidental  act  of  violence  in  connexion 
with  the  bread  riots  in  the  Eastern  Counties. 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital  223 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of 
the  change  which  had  thus  come  into  effect.  During  the 
eighteenth  century,  at  least,  the  art  of  spinning  wool  had 
been  practised  in  many  cottages  throughout  many  districts 
of  rural  England.  Spinning  had  afforded  a  very  remunera- 
tive by-employment,  and  the  earnings  of  the  women  and 
children  had  provided  a  most  useful  supplement  to  the 
wages  of  the  labourer.  When  spinning  was  concentrated 
in  factories  and  carried  on  as  an  independent  employment, 
it  was  entirely  diverted  from  the  rural  districts,  and  there 
has  been  no  means  of  supplying  its  place  in  the  domestic 
economy  of  the  cottage  home.  Thus  the  decay  of  domestic 
spinning  has  had  very  grave  effects  on  the  comfort  and 
prosperity  of  the  rural  population. 

The  inventions  of  Boulton  and  Watt  and  the  appli- 
cation of  steam  power  to  textile  machinery  water  power 
was  another  step  in  advance.  The  steam  and  steam 
engine  was  first  used  in  a  cotton  factory  in  p"^^""- 
1785,  and  for  thirty  or  forty  years  the  contest  between 
water  and  steam  was  carried  on.  Water  was  undoubtedly 
cheaper  where  a  good  supply  could  be  had;  but  in  many 
places  the  mills  were  liable  to  long  stoppages  for  want  of 
power.  Steam  power,  though  more  expensive,  was  always 
available,  and  could  be  increased  at  will;  and  this  superior 
convenience  led  at  length  to  its  general  adoption.  As 
has  been  already  pointed  out,  factory  towns  arose  in  con- 
nexion with  the  use  of  steam  power.  In  many  ways  it 
was  a  great  boon  to  the  operatives:  the  chief  cases  of  over- 
work, through  long  hours,  seem  to  have  occurred  in  water 
mills,  where  the  operatives  were  anxious  to  make  up  for 
time  lost  through  the  stoppage  of  the  water.  The  stories  of 
the  harshness  of  slubbers  towards  the  children  who  helped 
them,  and  who  were  worn  out  with  working  many  hours  at 


224     Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

a  stretch,  all  come  from  mills  of  this  kind.  The  disuse  of 
water  power  has  been  accompanied  by  a  cessation  of  any 
valid  excuse  for  working  excessive  hours.  On  the  other 
hand  it  may  be  said  that  along  with  steam  power  has  come 
the  development  of  new  machinery,  carrying  a  very  large 
number  of  spindles,  and  involving  a  far  greater  strain  on 
the  faculties  of  the  worker  than  was  requisite  in  the  old 
mills.  Work  goes  on  at  higher  speed,  and  there  is  increased 
tension  and  pressure  on  the  powers  of  the  operative. 

The  last  of  the  great  inventions,  which  it  is  necessary 
The  power  to  note  here,  was  the  power  loom  which 
loom.  gradually    displaced    weaving    by    hand.      It 

was  the  invention  of  a  singular  man.  Dr.  Cartwright  was 
a  Kentish  clergyman  who,  when  visiting  Matlock  in  1784, 
entered  into  conversation  with  some  Manchester  men, 
and  made  a  casual  suggestion  as  to  the  possibility  of  a 
power  loom  which  should  follow  up  the  spinning  done  by 
power.  His  friends  scouted  the  idea  as  impracticable,  but 
he  set  himself  to  carry  it  into  effect.  After  some  years  he 
succeeded  in  producing  a  loom  that  was  capable  of  being 
worked  commercially;  but  the  invention  was  hardly  taken 
up  during  his  lifetime.  He  demonstrated  that  power 
weaving  was  possible,  just  as  he  also  showed  that  wool- 
combing  could  be  done  by  machinery;  but  hand  loom 
weaving  continued  to  be  the  ordinary  practice  till  about 
1840.  At  that  time  a  Commission  investigated  the  con- 
dition of  the  hand  loom  weavers.  Power  weaving  had  been 
introduced  for  the  worsted  trade  of  Bradford,  but  hand 
weaving  was  holding  its  ground  in  the  woollen  manufacture 
at  Leeds.  In  the  cotton  trade,  power  weaving  had  also 
come  into  vogue,  but  apparently  it  did  not  displace  hand 
weaving.  The  trade  had  been  expanding,  and  the  addi- 
tional   cotton    cloth   woven    by    power   was    sold   without 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital. 


zz^ 


interfering  witli  the  employment  of  those  who  worked  on 
the  old  system. 

At  the  same  time  the  rates  of  pay  for  weaving  were  miser- 
ably low.  This  may,  conceivably,  have  been  indirectly  due 
to  the  possibility  of  having  recourse  to  power  weaving,  but 
it  was  also  a  reason  why  the  new  invention  was  introduced 
so  slowly.  When  wages  were  very  low  and  the  expense  of 
production  by  hand  was  small,  it  was  not  worth  while  to  run 
the  risk  of  purchasing  and  setting  up  expensive  machinery. 
It  was  not  advantageous  to  do  this  unless  the  margin  of  pro- 
bable profit  was  considerable.  In  1840  there  was  reason  to 
doubt  whether  power  weaving  would  be  generally  introduced 
after  all.  It  did  not  seem  likely  to  be  less  expensive  than 
poorly  paid  hand  labour  for  low-class  goods,  and  moreover 
it  had  not  been  so  far  perfected  that  it  could  do  the  high- 
class  work  of  the  best  weavers. 

The  great  advantage  of  machine  production  in  the  eyes 
of  the  employers  was  similar  to  that  which     .^ 

J^       -'  Advantages 

led  them  to  prefer  steam  to  water  power.  For  of  the  new 
all  trade  purposes  it  was  desirable  to  have  ^yst^"^- 
the  organisation  of  business  under  control.  Water  power 
could  not  be  counted  upon,  and  the  hand  loom  weavers 
could  not  always  be  trusted  to  work  regularly.  They  could 
not  be  depended  on  to  finish  a  job,  so  that  orders  could 
not  be  executed  for  certain  by  a  given  day.  With  power 
weaving  the  whole  was  under  the  master's  eye;  he 
knew  both  where  he  stood  and  what  he  could  undertake. 
Besides  this  the  di faculties,  which  arose  from  time  to 
time  from  the  embezzlement  of  materials,  were  far  less 
likely  to  occur  in  connexion  with  power  weaving  carried 
on  under  supervision  in  a  factory. 

Some  of  these  advantages  could  be  secured  by  a  system 
which  had  been  adopted  before  1840  in  the  woollen  trade 
Q 


226     Outlines  of  Ejiglish  Industrial  History.     [Chap. 

in  Scotland,  and  which  was  beginning  to  come  into  vogue 
in  the  cotton  trade  also,  though  more  slowly.  The  masters 
erected  sheds  in  which  looms  were  placed,  and  the  weavers 
came  and  executed  their  work  by  hand  loom  but  under 
supervision.  Those  who  worked  in  this  way  got  much 
higher  wages  than  the  men  who  preferred  the  greater  free- 
dom of  working  at  home:  but  after  all,  such  hand  loom 
sheds  were  only  a  transitional  form.  Weaving  organised  in 
this  fashion  had  its  advantages,  and  when  thus  managed  the 
application  of  power  was  particularly  easy,  especially  if  it 
was  already  employed  on  the  same  premises  in  connexion 
with  spinning. 

The  hand  loom  weaver  was  greatly  attached  to  his 
calling  and  stuck  to  it  when  work  was  very  intermittent 
and  badly  paid:  but  soon  after  the  Commission  of  1839 
had  reported,  it  became  obvious  that  he  was  engaged  in  a 
useless  struggle,  and  that  power  weaving  must  win  the  day. 
As  it  came  more  and  more  into  use  the  transformation  of 
the  clothing  trade  became  complete.  It  ceased  to  be  a 
great  industry  which  gave  employment  for  great  varieties 
of  highly  specialised  skill,  and  was  transformed  throughout 
into  a  series  of  processes  of  production  by  machinery. 

129.  During  the  whole  course  of  the  industrial  revolu- 
tion there  was  a  decided  feeling  among  many 

Machinery,  &  t>  J' 

and  the  of    the    labourcrs   that   machinery   was   their 

expansion  of  enemy,  diminishing  their  opportunities  of 
employment  and  bringing  about  a  reduction 
in  their  wages.  This  feeling  found  expression  in  many 
ways;  sometimes  in  such  riots  as  those  in  which  the  York- 
shire shearing  frames  were  destroyed,  and  sometimes  in 
proposals  to  impose  legislative  restrictions  on  the  use  of 
machines,  so  as  to  bring  them  to  a  level  with  hand  work, 
and  prevent  them  from  doing  the  work  more  quickly  or 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  227 

more  cheaply  than  it  could  be  done  by  hand.  This  latter 
suggestion  rested  on  the  old  fallacy  that  employment  is  a 
limited  quantity,  and  that  efficiency  of  every  kind  is  an 
evil,  since  it  leaves  less  work  to  be  done,  and  therefore 
less  scope  for  emi)loyment  at  the  old  work  on  the  old 
terms. 

Under  ordinary  conditions  this  is  a  quite  mistaken  and, 
in  any  case,  it  would  be  a  narrow-minded  policy  to  pursue. 
Whatever  the  interest  of  a  particular  trade  may  be,  the 
interest  of  the  general  public  is  best  secured  by  efficiency. 
When  goods  are  made  more  quickly  and  more  cheaply,  wants 
are  supplied  on  easier  terms.  These  are  benefits  which 
accrue  to  consumers  generally,  and  in  the  case  of  articles 
of  common  consumption  like  clothing  the  working  classes, 
collectively  and  individually,  gain  by  increased  efficiency 
and  greater  cheapness  of  production. 

But  this  gain  is  sometimes  so  very  slight  and  distant, 
that  it  is  absurd  to  point  it  out  as  a  consola-     ^.    , 

'^  Displace- 

tion  to  a  man  who  loses  employment  because  ment  of 
his  work  is  done  better  and  more  cheaply  by  a  'workers, 
machine.  The  gain  to  the  community  at  large  may  be  very 
great  and  may  be  undoubted,  but  there  is  serious  loss  to  the 
individual  who  is  no  longer  required  to  do  the  only  thing  he 
can  do  thoroughly  well.  Despite  its  benefits,  the  introduc- 
tion of  machinery  has  meant  the  displacement  of  workers 
possessing  special  skill  as  spinners  or  weavers;  and  a  me- 
chanical invention,  which  renders  their  special  attainments 
useless  and  valueless,  causes  them  irreparable  loss.  It 
seems  hard  to  weigh  an  infinitesimal  gain  to  a  large 
number  of  consumers,  against  the  ruin  of  a  skilled  artisan 
whose  whole  employment  is  taken  away  from  him  by  the 
introduction  of  a  machine  which  has  rendered  him  use- 
less. 


228     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

But,  despite  this  real  and  immense  loss  to  the  work- 
man whose  skill  is  specialised,  great  gain  has  often  resulted 
to  labourers  generally,  and  to  the  general  demand  for  labour, 
from  the  introduction  of  the  machine  which  supersedes 
him.  By  more  efficient  and  less  expensive  methods,  greater 
quantities  can  be  produced  at  the  same  cost  as  before,  with 
the  result  that  the  price  can  be  lowered.  The  lowering  of 
the  price  is  almost  certain  to  call  forth  an  increased  demand, 
and  it  is  more  than  likely  that,  to  meet  this  increased  de- 
mand, a  larger  number  of  labourers  will  be  employed  to 
work  the  machinery  than  were  previously  required  to  do  the 
work  without  the  machine.  So  far  as  the  effect  on  the  labour 
market  generally  is  concerned,  there  will  possibly  be  more 
employment  and  a  larger  sum  to  distribute  in  wages,  after 
the  introduction  of  machinery  than  before.  Increased  effi- 
ciency, with  consequent  cheapness,  is  the  one  thing  that 
can  be  counted  on  to  stimulate  demand  permanently,  and 
to  give  additional  opportunities  for  employment. 

This  tendency  may  be  illustrated  by  two  simple  cases. 
The  cotton  trade  was  a  very  small  affair  before  the  era  of 
invention.  The  number  of  hands  employed  in  spinning 
and  weaving  was  quite  inconsiderable.  Good  spinners  were 
losers,  when  their  special  skill  was  superseded  by  machinery; 
but  the  expansion  of  the  trade  has  given  far  more  scope 
for  employment  in  spinning  and  weaving  than  there  was 
before.  The  factory  towns  are  a  conspicuous  proof  of  the 
way  in  which  the  introduction  of  machinery  has  opened  up 
additional  employment  for  a  large  population.  Again,  the 
railway  system  of  this  country  may  be  regarded  as  one  huge 
machine  for  carrying  on  the  internal  traffic  of  Great  Britain. 
Its  introduction  was  opposed  by  many  persons  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  supersede  the  work  of  and  the  need 
for  horses,  that  coachmen,  horse-breeders  and  others  would 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  229 

suffer.  Undoubtedly  the  special  skill  of  the  mail  coach 
driver  is  no  longer  required  and  he  has  suffered;  but  rail- 
ways, by  rendering  travelling  very  cheap,  have  created  an 
unprecedented  demand  for  means  of  conveyance,  and  the 
total  field  for  employment,  as  servants,  in  connexion  with 
railways,  as  clerks,  porters,  surfacemen,  drivers,  guards,  &c., 
must  be  far  greater  than  was  available  in  coaching  days.  The 
invention  of  railways  was  prejudicial  to  one  small  class,  but 
has,  on  the  whole,  opened  up  immensely  increased  oppor- 
tunities of  employment. 

It  may,  perhaps,  at  first  sight  appear  as  if  the  destruction 
of  some  special  kind  of  skill  were  an  irreparable  loss,  for 
which  the  substitution  of  an  increased  number  of  less  highly 
trained  persons  does  not  altogether  atone.  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that  different,  and  perhaps  higher  kinds  of 
skill  are  called  forth  in  connexion  with  machinery.  There 
may  be  less  need  for  some  one  form  of  manual  deftness, 
but  more  intelligence  is  required  in  working  with  a 
machine.  It  would  be  difficult  to  show  that  the  present 
generation  of  workers  are  less  intelligent,  or  more  defective 
as  human  beings,  because  of  the  introduction  of  machinery, 
even  though  they  may  be  destitute  of  some  special  form  of 
manual  dexterity. 

On  the  whole,  then,  it  may  be  said  that  labourers,  gene- 
rally speaking,  have  not  suffered  by  the  intro-  Gain  to  con- 
duction of  machinery,  but  only  one  class  or  sumers. 
another,  which  possessed  a  kind  of  highly  specialised 
skill,  that  is  superseded  by  some  machine.  This  is  a  real 
loss;  but  it  is  a  limited  one  which  must  be  set  off 
against  the  general  gain  —  to  the  consumers  in  cheapness, 
and  to  labourers  generally  through  the  subsequent  expansion 
of  trade.  It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  the  advantage 
of   increased  employment  does  not  arise,  if,  despite  the 


230     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

introduction  of  machinery,  there  is  no  subsequent  expansion 
of  trade.  In  the  case  of  an  article  that  is  not  one  of 
common  consumption,  it  may  be  doubted  if  increased 
cheapness  can  ever  greatly  increase  the  demand.  Top 
boots  are  but  a  small  element  in  the  cost  of  hunting,  and 
if  top  boots  were  rather  cheaper,  they  would  possibly  be 
very  little  more  worn.  In  other  cases  no  expansion  in  the 
trade  may  be  possible  because  of  the  limited  supply  of  the 
materials.  Till  Australian  wool  was  brought  in  large  quan- 
tities to  the  market,  this  was  partially  true  of  all  departments 
of  the  clothing  trade.  It  could  not  expand  rapidly,  as 
additional  supplies  of  material  were  not  forthcoming.  As 
pointed  out  above,  this  limitation  told  in  favour  of  the 
skilled  weavers  at  the  time  when  the  flying  shuttle  was 
invented.  But  things  worked  out  differently  in  the  case  of 
later  inventions  which  were  substitutes  for,  not  subsidiary 
to,  skilled  labour  in  the  clothing  trade.  When  shearing  was 
done  by  machinery,  the  shearmen,  or  croppers,  were  dis- 
placed. There  was  little,  if  any,  expansion  of  trade  conse- 
quent on  these  changes,  and  therefore  there  was  a  loss  to 
this  old-established  craft,  that  was  not  recouped  by  labour 
generally.  In  the  same  way,  wool-combing  was  a  limited 
trade,  and  the  introduction  of  combing  machinery  displaced 
skilled  workers,  without  causing  expansion,  or  opening  up 
any  new  opportunities  of  employment.  The  stand  that  was 
taken  against  machinery  by  the  shearmen  of  Yorkshire — ■ 
an  agitation  which  was  closely  connected  with  the  Luddite 
riots  —  had  more  justification  than  can  usually  be  alleged 
on  behalf  of  such  outbreaks.  Skilled  labour  was  displaced, 
and  there  was  no  further  change  by  which  other  classes  of 
labourers  gained  directly;  their  indirect  gain,  in  so  far  as 
they  were  consumers  who  could  obtain  clothing  cheaper, 
need  not  be  taken  into  account  here. 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  23 1 

130.     However  interesting  it  might  be,  it  is  extremely 
diiificult  to  attempt  an  estimate  of  the  dif-    Theproie. 
ference  which  the  industrial  revolution  has    tariat.  stabi- 
made  in  the  general   social  and  moral  con-     g^ggg"    ^^^' 
ditions  of  the  labouring  class. 

Before  the  industrial  revolution,  the  English  woollen 
weaver  was,  generally  speaking,  resident  in  a  industry 
rural  district  or  had,  in  some  way,  an  interest  divorced  from 
in  land.  He  might  have  a  garden,  like  the  '^"^' 
Shefifield  Cutlers,  or  carry  on  pasture-farming,  like  the 
weavers  near  Leeds.  He  was  not  entirely  dependent  on 
his  trade:  in  times  of  industrial  depression  he  still  had 
something  to  fall  back  on.  He  could,  at  least,  tide  over  a 
few  weeks  of  bad  trade,  and  even  though  he  might  have  to 
'go  short,'  still  it  was  possible  for  him  to  manage  somehow. 
But  with  the  aggregation  of  labour  in  large  towns  this  was  no 
longer  feasible.  The  weaver  was  spared  any  waste  of  time 
in  going  for  materials  or  in  selling  his  cloth,  but  his  house 
was  cramped  up  in  a  crowded  area,  where  neither  he  nor 
his  neighbour  could  have  any  land.  In  this  way  his  whole 
condition  came  to  be  directly  dependent  on  the  condition 
of  trade.  Wages  were  his  sole  means  of  support;  if  em- 
ployment was  difficult  to  get,  or  payment  was  low,  he  had 
no  means  of  eking  out  his  subsistence  from  any  other  source. 
Instead  of  having  two  strings  to  his  bow  he  had  only  one; 
he  was,  consequently,  in  a  far  less  independent  position. 

A  similar  loss  fell  on  the  agricultural  labourer.  While 
spinning  was  an  occupation  which  was  diffused  through- 
out the  country,  the  earnings  of  his  wife  and  children 
came  in  as  an  additional  source  of  income.  He  also 
had  two  strings  to  his  bow  —  and  if  he  had  grazing  rights 
also,  he  may  be  said  to  have  had  three.  It  was  a  position 
of  great  economic  stability;  but  with  the  introduction  of 


232     Outlines  of  Engl  is  Ji  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

machine  spinning,  and  the  progress  of  enclosure,  he  was 
deprived  first  of  one  means  of  support  and  then  of  another. 
Like  the  factory  operative,  the  agricultural  labourer  came  to 
be  wholly  dependent  on  wages  for  the  income  of  his  house- 
hold. His  economic  condition  no  longer  rested  on  "  the 
stable  basis  of  land  but  on  the  fluctuating  basis  of  trade," 
since  he  was  merely  a  wage-earner,  and  his  whole  chance 
of  employment  and  the  rate  of  his  pay  had  come  to  depend 
on  the  market  price  of  the  product. 

Much  is  said  at  present  about  the  desirability  of  render- 
Town  and  ing  rural  life  more  attractive,  and  of  pre- 
country.  venting  the  migration  of  labour  to  towns. 
The  gist  of  the  matter  really  lies  in  rendering  the  village 
household  more  prosperous.  It  may  be  possible  to  supply 
allotments,  and  re-create  domestic  subsistence  farming; 
but  the  crucial  difference  between  the  past  and  the 
present  lies  in  the  fact  that  formerly  there  were  many 
by-employments  available,  which  have  been  concentrated, 
as  it  were,  into  distinct  trades.  The  improvement  of  means 
of  communication  may  make  it  possible  to  start  works  in 
villages  —  e.g.  printing  works,  so  that  the  artisan  may  once 
again  enjoy  the  advantages  of  rural  life,  while  still  having 
regular  employment  at  his  trade,  but  it  is  not  so  easy  to  see 
any  possibility  of  a  revival  of  cottage  industries,  which 
might  replace  the  peasant  family  in  the  stable  position  it 
occupied  before  the  industrial  revolution. 

But,  after  all,  the  old  condition  of  economic  stability 
was  inconsistent  with  progress.  It  passed  away  because  the 
division  of  labour  has  rendered  production  more  efficient, 
and  because  the  enterprise  of  English  merchants  has  brought 
us  into  commerical  communication  with  all  parts  of  the 
globe.  Thanks  to  this  progress,  English  artisans  and 
labourers  have  gained  in  many  ways.     Tea  drinking  was 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  233 

spoken  of  as  a  vicious  extravagance  in  the  eighteenth 
century;  it  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  ahiiost  a  necessary 
in  the  most  frugal  households.  Oranges  and  other  fruit, 
tobacco  and  newspapers,  are  luxuries  which  are  much  more 
generally  available  than  they  were.  These  are  distinct 
additions  to  the  comfort  of  life,  which  the  labourer  could 
not  previously  enjoy  at  all.  Besides  this,  clothing  and 
household  utensils  of  every  kind  are  far  cheaper  than  they 
were;  the  industrial  revolution  has  done  a  great  deal  to 
increase  the  purchasing  power  of  wages.  It  is  not  easy  to 
balance  the  loss  and  gain  in  the  labourer's  material  con- 
dition; the  loss  of  stability  is  real,  but  the  gain  through 
progress  is  also  real.  The  problem  which  faces  us  is  not 
that  of  returning  to  the  old  circumstances  and  losing  what 
we  have  gained,  but,  if  possible,  of  introducing  some  new 
conditions  of  stability  which  shall  yet  be  compatible  with 
farther  progress. 

If  there  is  so  much  difficulty  in  estimating  the  pre- 
cise change  in  the  material  well-being  of  Factories 
the  labourer,  it  is  far  harder  to  trace  the  and  character, 
effects  on  morals  and  character.  There  is  a  constant 
tendency  to  idealise  the  past,  and  to  represent  each 
generation  as  worse  than  its  predecessors;  it  is  easy  to 
make  such  assertions,  and  we  rarely  have  the  means  of 
testing  them  or  of  saying  what  elements  of  truth  there  may 
be  in  this  view.  It  is  also  easy  to  point  out  the  demoral- 
ising and  degrading  elements  in  town  life,  and  to  regret 
the  wholesome  influence  of  rural  surroundings.  But  it  is 
true  that  rural  surroundings  do  not  always  make  for  morality, 
as  the  statistics  of  illegitimacy  show.  The  dilatoriness  and 
dishonesty  of  the  domestic  worker  were  the  chief  reasons 
for  the  progress  of  that  factory  system  which  brought  him 
under  effective  supervision.     The  life  of  the  factory  opera- 


234     Outlifies  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

tive  is  far  more  regular  and  disciplined;  so  that  at  first  there 
was  a  real  indisposition  to  submit  to  the  tyranny  of  the 
Factory  Act,  and  the  better  and  more  independent  elements 
in  the  population  held  out  against  it.  But  that  is  a  thing  of 
the  past,  and  it  can  scarcely  be  said  that  an  influence  which 
has  rendered  the  ordinary  habits  of  artisan  life  more  regular 
and  steady  has  been  other  than  good. 

The  independent  workman  was  also  to  a  great  extervt 
isolated :  the  aggregation  of  labourers  in  towns  has  had  an 
important  socialising  influence.  It  has  prepared  the  way 
for  the  formation  of  the  great  friendly  societies,  the  co- 
operative societies  and  other  artisan  organisations.  The 
formation  of  such  societies  and  the  management  of  their 
affairs  are  in  themselves  important  educative  influences,  and 
have  called  forth  remarkable  administrative  powers.  And 
even  if  the  action  of  Trades  Unions  has  sometimes  been 
open  to  criticism  for  unwisdom,  it  should  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  organisation  and  disciplining  of  the  army  of  labour 
is  no  mean  achievement.  The  comparative  self-restraint 
and  freedom  from  outrage  which  characterises  recent  labour 
struggles,  as  compared  with  those  of  1812  or  1816,  shows  a 
remarkable  progress  in  effective  self-control  on  the  part  of 
the  labourers.     Here,  too,  there  is  progress  in  morality. 

Even  when  the  disadvantages  of  town  life  are  considered 
seif-im-  — ^^  ^^S'^  rentals,  foggy  air  and  other  evils  — 

provement  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  superior 
amusement.  attraction  which  it  possesses.  The  oppor- 
tunities for  self-improvement  and  for  amusement  are  far 
greater  in  the  town  than  in  the  country.  It  is  impossible  to 
suppose  that,  with  all  the  influence  of  education,  the  standard 
of  intelligence  in  rural  districts  has  declined  during  the  last 
century;  and  the  difference  between  the  town-bred  artisan 
and   the   agricultural  labourer  in  the  present  day,   in  all 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  235 

matters  of  intellectual  capacity,  is  not  an  unfair  measure  by 
which  to  gauge  the  progress  in  intelligence  and  culture  that 
has  synchronised  with  the  industrial  revolution.  There 
are  good  and  bad  individuals  in  all  classes  and  at  all 
times.  The  enumeration  of  single  instances  can  never  be 
a  satisfactory  method  of  reaching  a  conclusion  on  this 
difficult  question.  But  the  growth  and  development  of 
social  institutions  is  a  far  more  satisfactory  test,  and  this 
seems  to  bear  unimpeachable  witness  to  the  moral  and 
intellectual  progress  of  the  labourer  during  the  last  hundred 
years. 

131.  The  preceding  sections  may  have  served  to  bring 
out  the  steadily  increasing  importance  of  individual 
capital  in  the  process  of  manufacture.  It  and  state  ma- 
has  intervened  to  seek  markets,  to  provide  "^e^^^nt. 
materials,  to  organise  the  different  branches  of  a  trade,  and 
to  supply  implements  and  tools.  Those  who  are  the  owners 
of  wealth  have  gradually  come  to  take  an  ever  increasing 
share  in  the  work  of  production.  The  existence  of  industrial 
capital,  as  a  fund  devoted  to  the  production  of  more  wealth, 
has  rendered  it  possible  to  carry  out  the  division  of  labour, 
and  to  render  labour  more  efficient  by  supplying  implements 
and  machines,  while  it  undertakes  the  necessary  purchase  of 
materials  and  the  sale  of  the  product.  The  possessors  of 
capital  would  not  apply  their  wealth  to  these  purposes,  or 
would  not  continue  to  do  so,  unless  they  saw  their  way  to 
gain,  and  this  gain  is  termed  profit.  Besides  the  profit 
which  all  capitalists  expect  to  get  when  they  undertake  the 
risks  of  business,  the  men  who  manage  business  and 
arrange  for  purchases  and  sales  are  paid  for  their  difficult 
and  responsible  work,  and  obtain  earnings  of  management 
for  their  trouble.  In  a  private  firm,  where  a  man  owns 
the   capital   and    manages   the    lousiness  himself,   he    may 


236     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

not  be  able  to  distinguish  between  the  part  of  his  income 
which  comes  to  him  as  profit  on  his  capital  and  the  earn- 
ings which  are  remuneration  for  his  difficult  work :  but  the 
two  elements  are  different,  whether  it  is  easy  or  not  to 
separate  them,  and  it  is  by  no  means  hard  to  distinguish 
them  in  the  case  of  a  great  limited  liability  company.  The 
capital  of  the  London  and  North-Western  Railway  is  owned 
by  the  share-holders,  and  their  profits  come  to  them  in  the 
form  of  dividends  paid  half-yearly.  Very  few  of  the  share- 
holders take  any  active  part  in  the  management,  and  those 
who  are  called  on  to  do  so,  as  directors,  receive  fees  for 
their  trouble.  The  greater  part  of  the  work  of  management 
is  done  by  salaried  officers,  who  are  paid  for  their  trouble, 
but  who  may  not  be  share-holders  at  all.  In  such  a  case  it 
is  very  easy  to  distinguish  the  profit  on  capital  from  the 
receipt  of  wages  of  manageinent. 

With    the    growing    complexity   and    responsibility   of 
Wages  of  commercial    organisation,    the    difficulty    of 

management,  management  has  greatly  increased,  and  there 
has  been  a  corresponding  rise  in  the  salaries  paid  to 
efficient  men  for  carrying  on  business  of  any  kind.  The 
payments  for  ability  of  this  kind,  for  showing  enter- 
prise and  undertaking  responsibility,  have  greatly  increased, 
and  when  we  consider  how  much  depends  on  such  work 
being  done  well,  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  the  great 
companies,  engaged  in  eager  competition  and  keen  to 
make  profits,  allow  themselves  to  be  wasteful  or  extravagant 
in  this  item.  But  while  the  earnings  of  management  are 
thus  high,  the  payments  to  the  capitalist,  who  by  investing  his 
money  in  a  business  enables  it  to  be  carried  on  on  modern 
lines,  are  by  no  means  so  large  as  they  used  to  be.  The 
profits  of  capital  are  steadily  falling:  the  rate  of  interest,  or 
payment  for  capital  borrowed,  serves  to  indicate  the  direc- 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  237 

tion  of  changes  in  the  ordinary  rate  of  business  profit.  If 
men  see  a  reasonable  probability  of  making  high  profits  by 
the  investment  of  their  capital  they  will  be  unwilling  to  lend 
it  at  a  very  low  rate  of  interest.  The  gradual  fall  in  the 
rate  of  interest  to  2|  per  cent,  since  the  time  of  Elizabeth, 
when  the  crown  had  to  pay  12  per  cent.,  serves  as  an  index, 
which  shows  that  there  must  have  been  a  somewhat  similar 
decline  in  the  rate  of  profit,  and  that  capitalists  now-a-days 
are  willing  to  invest  their  money  in  business  for  a  far 
smaller  reward  than  they  expected  two  centuries  ago. 
The  functions  of  capital  have  increased  enormously,  but  the 
rate  at  which  capital  is  remunerated  has  steadily  declined. 

There  is,  however,  a  very  general  impression  in  many 
quarters  that  employers  derive  an  undue  share     The  func- 
of  the  results  of  production.     When  this  is     tions  of  em- 
said  we  ought  to  distinguish  the  two  elements     ^  °y^^^- 
in  the  employers'  income,  the  profit  on  his  capital,  and  his 
earnings  as  a  manager.     Taking  these  two  separately  we 
may  consider  whether  there  is  any  reason  to  think  that  this 
important  and  necessary  work  can  be  done  as  well  but  at  a 
lower  rate  of  pay. 

Business  cannot  be  carried  on  without  capital,  indeed 
there  is  an  ever  increasing  need  for  more  and  more,  as 
the  part  played  by  capital  steadily  increases.  Many  under- 
takings have  been  star\'ed  for  want  of  capital,  and  the 
difficulties  of  the  Darien  Company  or  the  East  India 
Company  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  have 
been  a  great  object  lesson  as  to  the  need  of  this  factor  in 
carrying  on  business. 

Capital  is  more  easily  obtainable  and  on  lower  terms  at 
the  present  day  than  was  ever  the  case  in  England  before. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  conceivable  that  Government  could 
borrow  money  very  cheaply  and  supply  it  to  carry  on  the 


238     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

business  of  the  country  at  a  still  lower  rate.  To  this  extent 
it  is  possible  that  some  kind  of  State  Socialism  might  be 
cheaper  than  our  existing  system. 

But  when  we  come  to  consider  the  other  item  —  wages 
of  management —  it  is  difificult  to  make  out  a  plausible  case 
for  supposing  that  business  would  be  done  in  a  more 
thorough  and  enterprising  fashion  by  Government  depart- 
ments than  by  private  firms.  Neither  the  management 
of  the  dockyards  nor  a  comparison  of  the  condition  of 
railways  in  different  countries  gives  any  solid  ground  for 
supposing  that  State  management  would  be  less  costly,  or 
would  in  any  way  be  better  than  that  which  is  afforded  by 
private  enterprise.  It  is  absurd  to  contend  that  employers 
are  overpaid  for  the  work  of  management,  unless  we  can 
show  some  means  of  getting  their  duties  done  as  well  and  at 
a  cheaper  rate.  It  is  plain  that  they  are  highly  paid,  but 
this  high  pay  is  earned  by  responsible  work;  and  we 
have  no  right  to  grudge  high  pay,  as  if  it  were  overpay, 
unless  we  know  that  the  work  can  be  done  as  well  and 
more  cheaply. 

There  is  also  a  certain  jealousy  of  the  action,  rather 
than  of  the  gains,  of  employers,  which  rests  on  the  sus- 
picion that  business  is  often  conducted  on  lines  which  do 
not  favour  the  interests  of  labour.  Hopes  are  entertained 
that  under  democratic  government  it  may  be  possible  to 
legislate  so  that  industry  shall  be  developed  in  those  direc- 
tions which  suit  the  labourer,  and  not  primarily  in  those 
which  are  advantageous  to  the  capitalist. 

Now  this  suspicion  and  expectation  have  some  justi- 
fication in  the  history  of  the  past  century.  There  have 
been  times  when  capitalists,  by  reckless  speculation  or  by 
spreading  work  at  starvation  rates,  have  injured  labour. 
They  have  done  more;    they  have  injured   trade,  though 


IX.]  Labour  and  Capital.  239 

they  may  have  succeeded  in  reaping  a  temporary  gain. 
But  it  is  also  true  that  if  the  labourers  pursue,  or  have 
power  to  obtain,  their  own  immediate  interest  in  disregard 
of  the  future  of  their  trade,  loss  must  fall,  not  only  on  capi- 
tal, but  on  labour  (p.  211).  The  only  interests  which  the 
State  can  be  rightly  called  in  to  promote  are  the  permanent, 
not  the  immediate,  interests  of  labour.  In  their  permanent 
interests  and  in  the  long  run,  capital  and  labour  are  not 
antagonistic,  since  each  is  really  interested  in  securing  the 
greatest  possible  efficiency. 

The  short-sighted  pursuit  of  immediate  interest,  either 
by  labour  or  capital,  is  disastrous  to  both;  a  Efficiency 
short-sighted  policy  on  one  side  or  the  other  ^"'^  expansion, 
has  been  the  cause  of  keen  antagonism.  Sixty  years  ago 
doctrinaire  economists  and  capitalists  alike  denied  the 
impossibility  of  paying  higher  rates  to  the  workers,  since 
they  looked  on  the  wages  fund  as  a  fixed  quantity.  They 
had  no  expectation  that  trade  would  expand  and  argued 
that  starvation  rates  were  inevitable;  but  an  increase 
of  efficiency  has  increased  the  product  to  be  divided  and 
wages  have  risen.  The  fund  is  fixed  but  only  for  a  given 
moment;  it  is  always  capable  of  expansion.  The  labourers, 
too,  have  fallen  into  a  similar  error :  they  have  acted  at 
times  as  if  the  field  for  employment  were  definitely  fixed, 
and  incapable  of  expansion.  They  have  spoken  as  if 
scamping  work,  idling  and  'making  work,'  were  the  only 
modes  of  providing  employment  for  additional  hands.  But 
by  so  doing  they  were  making  business  less  remunerative, 
and  thus  taking  a  course  which  tended  to  reduce  the  em- 
ployment available.  By  increased  efficiency  work  is  better 
done,  and  a  demand  is  stimulated  for  more  work.  In- 
creased efficiency  is  the  one  means  by  which  farther 
progress  can  be  attained;    it   is  the  one  security  against 


240     Outlijics  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.     [Ch.  ix. 

successful  foreign  competition.  It  has  no  immediate  reward 
in  deed;  it  can  only  be  attained  through  fresh  effort  and 
more  serious  risks,  but  for  all  that  it  is  the  only  expedient 
by  which  the  permanent  interests  of  capital  and  labour  can 
be  brought  to  be  at  one. 


CHAPTER   X. 


RESULTS   OF   INCREASED   COMMERCIAL   INTER- 
COURSE. 


132.  In  a  preceding  chapter  attention  has  been  called 
to  the  importance  of  commerce  as  a  support  of  international 
the  external  power  of  the  realm.     It  was  in  this     "^^'■'y  ^""^ 

competition 

aspect  that  it  has  been  specially  favoured,  and  between 
with  this  object  that  it  has  been  fostered:  but  nations, 
commerce  has  also  played  an  important  part  in  the  internal 
life  of  the  country.  It  has  reacted,  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  both 
on  agriculture  and  on  industry.  This  influence  has  been 
taken  for  granted,  or  alluded  to  throughout,  but  a  few 
remarks  on  it  now  may  serve  to  bring  these  scattered  hints 
together  into  a  brief  summary. 

The  advantages  of  commercial  intercourse  are  obvious 
so  far  as  war  products  are  concerned.  There  are  differences 
of  climate  and  soil,  so  that  each  country  gains  by  intercourse 
with  others.  As  Hales  puts  it  in  his  Discourse  of  the  Com- 
mon Weal,  "  Surely  common  reason  would  say  that  one  region 
"should  help  another  when  it  lacketh.  And  therefore  God 
"  hath  ordained  that  no  country  should  have  all  commodi- 
"ties;  but  that,  that  one  lacketh  another  bringeth  forth; 
"and  that,  that  one  country  lacketh  this  year,  another  hath 
R  241 


242     0?itlitics  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

"plenty  thereof  the  same  year;  to  the  intent  that  one  may 
"know  they  have  need  of  another's  help,  and  thereby  love 
"and  society  to  grow  amongst  all  the  more  "  (p.  61).  Inter- 
course with  foreign  lands  has  been  obviously  advantageous 
to  consumers  at  home,  and  also  advantageous  to  producers 
who  could  find  a  vent  for  the  surplus  which  was  not  required 
and  could  not  be  profitably  sold  in  England.  In  the  four- 
teenth century  there  might  be  keen  rivalry  between  traders, 
but  there  was  comparatively  little  room  for  economic  jea- 
lousy between  different  nations. 

With  the  development  of  manufactures  the  case  has 
been  somewhat  altered.  For  many  kinds  of  manufacture 
one  country  seems  to  have  little,  if  any,  physical  advantage 
over  another.  Spinning  and  weaving  are  simple  arts  prac- 
tised in  all  parts  of  the  globe  among  peoples  who  have  made 
but  little  progress  in  civilisation.  Governments  realised 
in  the  seventeenth  century  that  by  planting  new  manu- 
factures, it  was  possible  to  do  without  the  import  of  some 
commodity,  and  to  provide  remunerative  employment  for 
labour  at  home.  When  commerce  came  to  be  concerned 
as  subsidiary  to  industry,  in  providing  materials  or  in 
pushing  commodities  in  foreign  markets,  there  was  far  more 
room  for  international  jealousy  and  for  the  imposition  of 
hostile  tariffs  on  foreigners,  or  of  restrictions  on  the  natural 
development  of  colonies. 

So  long  as  specialised  human  skill  was  the  main  element 
Special  in  successful  manufacture,  the  possession  of 

advantages.  ^  skilled  population  gave  one  country  a 
decided  advantage  over  others  in  certain  branches  of  trade. 
This  long  inherited  skill  could  not  be  easily  fostered  or 
acquired.  The  transference  of  skilled  persons  was  the  only 
means  by  which  a  new  trade  could  be  effectively  planted. 
Hence  the  migration  of  artisans  to  England  was  of  the 


X.]    Results  of  Increased  Comuicrcial  Intercourse.    243 

highest  importance  for  her  subsequent  progress  (§  11). 
But,  in  an  ordinary  way  in  the  eighteenth  century,  each 
country  could  hope  to  retain  its  special  advantage  for  par- 
ticular manufactures  almost  as  completely  as  it  retained  its 
special  advantage  for  particular  products.  With  the  intro- 
duction of  machinery,  however,  there  has  been  a  change. 
Any  country  can  acquire  the  means  of  producing  ordinary 
commodities  in  the  best  way,  and  skill  in  manipulation  is 
not  so  special,  or  so  difficult  to  acquire  as  in  the  old  days  of 
manual  labour.  As  a  consequence,  economic  rivalry  between 
nations  is  becoming  keener  in  some  ways,  because  there  is 
a  reasonable  hope  of  successful  competition  in  production 
of  almost  every  kind. 

There  may,  of  course,  be  special  conditions  which  give 
one  country  a  physical  advantage  over  another.  The  climate 
of  Oldham  is  said  to  be  specially  favourable  for  fine  spin- 
ning. Cheapness  of  materials  gives  an  advantage  to  the 
Bombay  mills,  as  the  cotton  has  to  be  carried  but  a  little 
way.  Still  the  cost  of  carriage  is  comparatively  small  for 
such  cargo;  on  the  other  hand,  abundant  supplies  of  fuel  and 
proximity  to  the  natural  centres  of  the  engineering  and  hard- 
ware trades  are  real  advantages  so  far  as  they  go.  In  the 
early  days  of  the  free  trade  movement,  they  were  probably 
regarded  as  the  all-sufficient  bulwarks  of  England's  manu- 
facturing supremacy.  The  increasing  demands  on  our  coal- 
beds,  and  the  opening  up  of  new  fields  in  other  continents, 
make  it  doubtful,  however,  how  long  this  special  advantage 
will  continue  to  rest  with  us.  On  every  side  it  is  becoming 
obvious  that  special  physical  facilities  are  being  more  and 
more  widely  diffused  :  the  industrial  leadership  of  the  future 
will  lie  with  that  people  who  shall  attain  to  the  greatest 
efficiency,  by  the  combined  excellence  of  their  industrial 
■organisation,  and  the  high  intelligence  and  character  of  their 
operatives. 


244    Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

133.     In  so  far  as  any  country  has  a  special  advantage 
for  any  kind  of  manufacture  or  product  it  is 

Advantages 

of  commercial    of  coursc  economically  desirable  for  it  to  spe- 
intercourseto     cialisc   in  that  direction,    and  to  supply  its 

consumers.  .11  •   1        1  1         1       i         -r.       1   • 

neighbours  with  what  they  lack.  By  this  means 
the  consumers  of  such  goods  in  all  neighbouring  lands  will 
procure  what  they  require  on  easier  terms  than  would  other- 
wise be  the  case.  But  when  this  course  is  considered  as  a 
matter  of  national  policy,  it  becomes  important  to  ask,  who 
are  the  consumers  of  imported  goods  in  any  given  land, 
and  how  far  is  this  benefit  widely  distributed?  This  may 
be  illustrated  from  two  different  periods  of  English  history. 

Edward  III  was  anxious  to  encourage  frequent  and  easy 
communication  with  the  trading  centres  on  the  Continent. 
He  was,  as  we  may  say,  a  free  trader,  who  advocated  a 
policy  of  'plenty  '  or  cheapness  to  the  consumer.  But  the 
typical  article  of  import  at  that  time  was  wine,  a  luxury 
consumed  at  court  and  among  the  upper  classes.  The  great 
mass  of  the  population  made  very  little  use  of  any  imported 
commodity,  and  the  policy  of  cheap  imports  scarcely 
affected  them.  In  the  present  day,  on  the  other  hand,  our 
supplies  of  bread,  eggs,  cheese,  meat  and  fruit  are  very 
largely  brought  from  abroad.  The  very  poorest  are  depend- 
ent on  foreign  commodities  for  the  means  of  subsistence, 
and  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  for  the  population  of 
England,  as  a  whole,  that  goods  imported  from  abroad 
should  be  plentiful  and  cheap.  Frequent  and  easy  inter- 
course are  a  necessity  to  us  in  our  present  condition;  we 
could  not  reverse  the  free  trade  policy,  on  which  we  have 
entered,  without  causing  general  and  widespread  suffering. 

But  this  was  not  the  case  in  old  days:  it  may  be  said 
that  in  a  country  such  as  England,  in  the  time  of  Edward 
III,  the  protection  of  home  industries  was  the  preferable 


X.]    Results  of  Increased  ConiDicrcial  Intcrcoiirse.   245 

policy  in  the  interest  of  the  public  at  large.  If  the  rich 
paid  more  for  fine  cloths  and  wine,  the  poor  were  none  the 
worse  off.  Protection  did  serve  to  create  additional  em- 
ployment for  English  labourers.  Where  the  mass  of  the 
people  in  any  country  make  little  or  no  use  of  foreign 
commodities,  they  do  not  feel  the  advantage  which  results 
from  measures  which  render  imports  cheaper  to  the  con- 
sumer; while  they  do  benefit  by  having  employment 
opened  up  or  secured  to  them.  Many  of  the  colonies  are 
in  a  condition  somewhat  similar  to  that  of  England  under 
Edward  III,  and  hence  democratic  governments  are  in- 
clined, by  hostile  tariffs,  to  render  foreign  manufactures 
dearer,  with  a  view  to  providing  additional  employment. 
Those  who  consume  foreign  luxuries  are  worse  served  and 
pay  more,  but  a  local  industry  can  be  planted  and  artificially 
fostered,  so  that  employment  may  be  provided  for  colonial 
producers.  At  the  same  time  it  is  at  least  open  to  doubt 
whether  any  country  is  so  well  supplied  with  all  the  neces- 
saries of  life  —  including  say  clothes  and  boots  —  that  it  is 
economically  wise,  in  the  interests  of  its  public,  to  adopt  a 
line  of  policy  which  is  unfavourable  to  the  consumers  of 
foreign  goods. 

In  the  case  of  England  at  the  present  day,  when  we 
are  dependent  on  foreign  sources  for  the  ne-     Direct  bear- 
cessaries  of  life,  this  economic  consideration     ing  of  free 
is  paramount  over  all  others.     In  other  coun-    *'^*'^^' 
tries,  however,  it  may  be  an  open  question  whether  it  is 
not  wise  to  sacrifice  some  economic  advantage  for  a  politi- 
cal or  social  gain.     The  less  developed  countries  of  the 
world  have  their  ambitions.     They  know  that  opportunities 
for  culture  of  every  kind  and  possibilities  of  importance 
in  the  world  are  precluded  to  a  country  with  a  very  sparse 
population.      They   may    prefer    to    secure   an   artisan   or 


246     Oittlincs  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

town  population,  as  well  as  a  rural  one,  and  they  may 
be  prepared  to  make  an  economic  sacrifice  for  this  object. 
It  is  thus  that  the  question  of  free  trade  raises  issues 
which  lie  outside  the  scope  of  economics.  There  is  no 
doubt  where  the  economic  advantage  lies  in  the  case  of 
countries  which  are  dependent  on  other  lands  for  articles 
of  common  consumption;  but  the  economic  advantage  of 
one  course  or  the  other  is  not  so  clear  in  the  case  of 
countries  which  only  import  luxuries  from  abroad.  And 
when  the  economic  question  is  decided,  the  political  result 
from  one  course  or  the  other  must  be  weighed,  before  the 
matter  can  be  settled.  Under  the  circumstances  it  is 
difficult  for  Englishmen  to  hope  that,  though  demonstrably 
the  best  for  themselves,  the  policy  of  free  trade  will  be 
very  readily  adopted  by  other  countries. 

At  the  same  time,  though  the  McKinley  Bill  and  other 
hostile  tariffs  have  raised,  in  recent  times,  many  new  barriers 
to  complete  freedom  of  commercial  intercourse,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  it  is,  on  the  whole,  increasing.  The 
total  volume  of  commerce  is  greater,  and  different  countries 
are  becoming  more  and  more  economically  interdependent. 
Communication  is  now  so  easy  that  a  very  small  amount  of 
advantage  renders  it  possible  to  drive  a  profitable  trade. 
The  progress  that  is  continually  going  on,  in  opening  up 
half-civilised  or  savage  countries,  brings  about  new  de- 
velopments of  trade;  and  there  is  now  regular  and  frequent 
intercourse  with  regions  that  were  wholly  unexplored  a 
century  ago. 

134.  If  we  turn  to  consider  the  internal  condition  of 
Commercial  England,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
intercourse  as     development  of  Commerce,  with  its  reaction 

the  solvent  of 

social  organi-  o^  industry,  has  enormously  promoted  the 
sat'°"-  material  well-being  of  the  country. 


X.]    Results  of  Incirascd  Commercial  Intercourse.    247 

When  we  compare  the  present  condition  of  England  with 
the  state  of  affairs  at  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  we  see  how 
enormously  she  has  increased  in  material  prosperity.  From 
being  an  insignificant  island  realm  she  has  come  to  take  her 
place  as  one  of  the  great  powers;  and  her  political  import- 
ance has  come  through  the  wealth  obtained  by  her  com- 
merce. Population,  too,  is  about  six  or  seven  times  as 
large  as  it  was,  and  though  the  standard  of  comfort  of 
the  lowest  class  in  the  community  has  not  been  raised,  and 
there  is  no  preventive  check  to  the  undue  multiplication  of 
the  unfit,  the  great  body  of  artisans  have  risen  to  a  position 
where  they  can  command  far  better  housing  and  clothing 
than  were  available  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  Commerce 
gives  them  certain  commodities  at  lower  prices  than  they 
can  be  produced  in  England.  Commerce  has  opened  up 
opportunities  of  employment  that  they  could  not  otherwise 
have  had;  it  has  contributed  in  every  way  to  their  material 
prosperity.  On  this  point  we  need  hardly  be  left  in  doubt 
when  we  read  the  accounts  of  the  frequent  famines  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  or  of  the  almost  chronic  pestilences  of  the 
fifteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  There  is  no  need  to 
fear  a  recurrence  of  the  former  evil  so  long  as  we  can  draw 
our  food  supplies  from  a  large  area;  the  disappearance  of 
the  latter  implies  the  removal  of  those  insanitary  conditions 
which  gave  it  such  a  firm  hold.  The  death  rate,  so  far  as 
we  can  get  at  it,  gives  us  a  physical  and,  therefore,  a  definite 
means  of  estimating  the  standard  of  comfort  which  was 
available  in  past  centuries. 

But  this  improvement  in  material  prosperity  throughout 
the  country  has  gone  on  simultaneously  with     seif-suffi- 
other  changes  in  internal  conditions.     Com-     ciency  and  in- 

.    ,    .     ^  .  1  ,       1   •    1     1  1  terconnexion. 

mercial  intercourse  is  a  solvent  which  breaks 

up    industrial    organisation.      Commerce   brings   different 


248     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  Histojy.    [Chap, 

groups  or  nations  into  economic  interdependence,  and  is 
incompatible  with  the  economic  self-sufficiency  which  is 
favourable  for  the  growth  of  long-lived  institutions. 

There  was  a  time  in  England,  before  the  Norman  Con- 
quest, when  each  manor  or  village  was  a  self-sufficing  group, 
as  there  are  districts  in  India  where  the  same  thing  holds 
good  to-day.  They  possessed  a  good  deal  of  collectivist 
organisation.  The  wants  of  the  villages  seem  to  have  been 
supplied  from  its  own  resources,  before  anything  was  sold 
to  outsiders.  The  swineherd  and  the  beeherd  may  be  re- 
garded as  village  officials,  who  looked  after  one  department 
and  had  a  claim  to  support  from  their  neighbours.  Village 
artisans  could  meet  the  requirements  of  the  place  suffi- 
ciently.  There  was  but  little  need  for  intercourse  with  the 
outside  world,  and  there  was  no  need  for  change  in  mutual 
relations  within  the  group.  But  internal  commerce  soon 
broke  all  this  down.  The  farmer  now  buys  what  he  needs 
at  the  market  town,  and  the  village  artisan  is  left  unem- 
ployed, while  each  man  utilises  his  land  as  he  judges  best, 
and  all  trace  of  collectivist  organisation  within  the  group 
disappears.  The  village,  instead  of  being  a  small  but  self- 
sufficing  economic  whole,  has  sunk  into  being  a  mere  rural 
element  in  the  life  of  that  larger  economic  whole  —  the 
country.  Through  commerce  it  comes  to  specialise  in  its 
production,  and  to  buy  those  things  which  it  has  no  advan- 
tage for  making.  It  loses  its  economic  self-sufficiency  and 
the  completeness  of  its  economic  organisation. 

In  a  similar  way,  if  we  look  back  to  the  condition  of  Eng- 
land at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  George  III,  we  may  say 
that  it  was,  especially  if  its  dependencies  are  taken  into  ac- 
count, a  self-sufficing  country.  At  that  time  there  was  a  cu- 
riously complete  economic  organisation  of  national  affairs. 
Parliament  expended  an  immense  amount  of  care  on  the 


X.]    Rcsnlts  of  Increased  CoDimercial  Intercourse.    249 

national  direction  of  enterprise  into  certain  channels  which 
were  regarded  as  advantageous,  and  which  helped  to  build 
up  the  power  of  the  country.  Many  measures  were  taken 
by  the  nation  to  plant,  foster,  and  protect  such  industries  as 
might  afford  remunerative  employment  for  the  population. 
Special  attention  was  given  to  the  national  food  supjjly, 
and  such  encouragement  was  bestowed  on  agriculture  as 
might  ensure  a  constant  and  regular  supply  of  corn.  The 
proper  training  of  workmen  was  provided  for,  and  there 
was,  on  paper  at  least,  a  machinery  for  ensuring  him  suffi- 
cient remuneration;  while  those  who  were  unable  or  unwill- 
ing to  work  were  kept  alive,  rather  than  cared  for,  by 
means  of  the  Poor  Law.  There  was  a  great  system  of 
commercial  and  industrial  organisation,  which  took  cogni- 
sance of  every  side  of  the  industrial  life  of  the  nation.  But 
the  increased  opportunities  afforded  by  commerce,  and  the 
specialisation  into  a  great  manufacturing  country,  which  is 
a  very  recent  development,  have  broken  down  this  great 
organisation.  Enterprise  is  no  longer  controlled;  it  seeks 
its  own  channels.  Industry  resents  fostering  care  and  asks 
to  be  let  alone.  Our  food  supply  comes  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  trade.  The  training  of  the  workman  is  not 
systematic,  and  his  wages  are  allowed  to  change  in  accord- 
ance with  market  fluctuations.  The  Poor  Law,  recast 
indeed,  still  remains  as  the  sole  surviving  element  in  the 
great  system  of  national  economic  organisation.  Com- 
merce has  broken  down  that  system,  or  has,  at  least,  given 
free  play  to  the  special  industrial  developments  which  out- 
grew and  superseded  it  altogether. 

It  would  be  easy  to  illustrate  this  action  of  commercial 
intercourse  from  the  changes  which  are  going     Fluctuation 
on  in  India  at  the  present  time.      It  is  enough     and  organisa- 
to  say  that  economic  interdependence  implies    '^'°"' 


250    Outlines  of  EnglisJi  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

fluctuation  and  changes,  while  thorough-going  organisation 
has  grown  most  readily  in  the  stable  conditions  furnished 
by  the  self-sufficiency  of  a  given  group.  There  were,  of 
course,  institutions  for  carrying  on  commerce  in  the  towns; 
in  these  centres  of  commerce,  there  has  been  a  strange 
facility  in  taking  new  departures  and  entering  on  new 
developments  as  the  circumstances  of  trade  have  changed. 
But  the  systematic  organisation  of  economic  life  is  a  differ- 
ent matter.  There  is  an  element  of  instability  in  the  social 
system  wherever  commercial  intercourse  comes  in.  It  has 
served  as  a  solvent  in  the  past,  and  any  attempts,  made  at 
the  complete  economic  organisation  of  society  in  the  future, 
must  face  the  problem  of  how  to  take  account  of  commerce 
and  the  variations  which  it  causes.  Can  it  be  excluded  and 
a  condition  of  primitive  simplicity  secured,  or  can  it  be 
controlled  so  that  it  will  not  react  on  the  social  fabric?  Is 
it  possible  to  devise  a  thorough-going  economic  organisa- 
tion of  society  in  countries,  which  are  very  diverse  in  habit 
and  tradition,  and  are  yet  economically  interdependent  on 
one  another?  If  such  organisation  is  possible,  would  it  rest 
on  a  cosmopolitan  or  a  national  basis?  These  are  questions 
suggested  by  the  breakdown  of  social  organisations  in  the 
past.     The  answers  lie  hidden  in  the  future. 

At  any  rate  we  may  see,  when  we  remember  the  gradual 
process  which  has  undermined  the  social  life  of  the  past, 
that  there  is  little  hope  of  reproducing  it  successfully.  The 
conditions  under  which  medieval  craft  gilds  or  yeomen 
farmers  flourished  are  gone  for  ever.  We  must  look  forward 
and  frame  ideals  for  the  future,  which  shall  take  account 
of  all  the  new  powers  which  have  come  into  man's  hands 
for  subduing  nature.  But  we  may  also  do  well  to  turn  at 
times  to  the  past.  The  better  we  understand  the  circum- 
stances under  which  economic  life  has  flourished  or  has 


X.]    Rcsii/ts  of  Increased  Coniinoxial  Intercourse.     251 

succumbed,  the  better  shall  we  be  able  to  forecast  the  con- 
ditions, which  will  be  most  favourable  for  the  realisation  of 
our  aims  in  time  to  come. 

135.     The  influence  exerted  by  commercial  intercourse 
in  breaking  down  old  social  institutions  has   „  , 

°  Modern 

also  reacted  curiously  on  the  economic  rela-   complications 
tionships  and  responsibilities  of  individuals,    and  individual 

^  '■  duty. 

So  long  as  each  man  was  practically  restricted 
to  one  neighbourhood,  or  confined  within  certain  definite 
limits  of  trade,  there  was  little  room  for  independent 
action.  Within  each  isolated  group  each  individual  stood 
in  known  relationships  to  other  persons.  The  harshness  of 
a  lord  to  his  serfs,  or  the  negligence  of  a  master  in  not 
finding  his  apprentice  properly,  were  definite  acts  which 
could  be  easily  brought  home,  and  for  which  the  blame  could 
be  properly  affixed.  Similarly,  the  producer  stood  in  very 
close  relations  to  the  consumer  for  many  purposes,  and 
"  fairness  as  between  man  and  man  "  could  be  made  to  cover 
ordinary  trading  transactions,  while  conventional  rules  and 
a  privileged  position  could  be  used  to  regulate  the  conditions 
of  foreign  trade  and  to  limit  attempts  at  extortion.  The 
sphere  for  personal  independent  action  was  limited,  and 
hence  the  discharge  of  personal  duty  was  comparatively  easy. 
To  put  it  in  the  simplest  way,  if  wrong  were  done,  it 
was  comparatively  easy  to  make  restitution.  Each  group 
was  comparatively  isolated,  and  economic  relations  were 
close  and  direct.  In  modern  times,  on  the  other  hand, 
when  goods  go  to  market  and  are  bought  at  market,  there 
are  many  intervening  links  between  the  producer  and  the 
consumer.  The  man  who  does  bad  work  may  never  know 
who  is  the  sufferer,  nor  is  the  person  who  buys  goods  as  a 
great  bargain,  at  a  price  that  must  be  unremunerative  to  the 
producer,  able  to  trace  out  the  person  by  whose  labour  and 


252     Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.    [Chap. 

at  whose  expense  he  has  gained.  If  he  pays  more  than  he 
is  asked,  he  has  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  person  who 
has  been  sweated  will  be  the  better  for  it.  Hence  an  un- 
satisfactory state  of  affairs  arises;  economic  wrong  is  done, 
and  those  whose  action  occasions  it  feel  they  can  neither 
help  it  nor  make  up  for  it.  They  have  no  direct  personal 
responsibility.  The  intervention  of  so  many  markets  and 
so  many  intermediaries  has  removed  it  out  of  that  range  of 
personal  action  within  which  it  fell  in  old  times. 

But  while  the  break-down  of  the  old  social  isolation  has 
Personal  reduced  the  sense  of  personal  responsibility, 
influence,  it  has  also  given  a  far  wider  bearing  to  the 
economic  action  of  individuals  —  both  in  time  and  place. 
To  give  to  a  poor  man  in  times  when  there  was  little  free- 
dom of  movement  was  an  isolated  act.  Each  case  of  hard- 
ship was  an  individual  one  about  which  there  might  be  very 
full  knowledge  and  which  could  be  treated  on  its  merits. 
But  since  the  Tudor  period,  when  the  vagrant  class  came 
into  prominence,  all  this  is  changed:  the  indirect  and 
ulterior  effects  have  to  be  considered  as  more  important 
than  those  that  are  immediate.  Open-handed  beneficence 
may  tend  to  create  and  perpetuate  an  idle  and  vagrant  class : 
the  very  means  which  have  been  taken  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor  may  aggravate  the  evil.  Wherever  it  is  possible  for  a 
man  to  count  on  regular  relief,  or  to  obtain  indiscriminate 
charity  without  working,  the  motives  to  shirk  the  ordinary 
routine  of  life  are  greatly  strengthened,  and  the  growth  of 
pauperism  is  stimulated.  Thus  it  may  easily  happen  that 
action,  intended  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  will  ultimately  and 
indirectly  increase  the  very  evil  it  was  meant  to  prevent.  This 
knowledge  does  not  of  course  diminish  the  duty  of  trying  to 
help  the  poor,  it  only  imposes  an  additional  duty  of  being 
circumspect  and  considerate  in  our  efforts  to  relieve  them. 


X.]    Results  of  Increased  Commercial  Intejrourse.    253 

But  commercial  intercourse  also  gives  a  new  character 
to  our  relations  with  distant  peoples.  We  are  cosmopon- 
brought  into  contact  with  them  and  indirectly  t^n  influence, 
exercise  an  influence  upon  them.  So  long  as  trade  was 
confined  to  special  points  or  to  factories  this  was  hardly 
the  case,  but  the  opening  up  of  half-civilised  countries 
to  the  traders  of  all  nations  has  led  to  a  sudden  influx 
of  F.uropean  commodities  and  Western  ideas.  The  sense 
of  duty  to  native  races  and  to  dependent  peoples  is  far 
stronger  than  it  was  a  century  ago,  when  national  feeling 
was  far  more  exclusive  than  it  is  now,  and  obscured  the 
sense  of  humanitarian  duties.  It  is  strange  to  note  the 
indignation  expressed  by  Whitfield  at  the  restrictions  placed 
on  the  English  in  Georgia,  which  prevented  them  from 
supplying  rum  to  the  natives  or  from  possessing  slaves. 
The  ordinary  religious  conscience  is  more  enlightened  now; 
it  has  come  to  recognise  that  we,  as  a  nation,  have  a  real 
duty  towards  all  those  people  whom  we  influence  through 
our  commercial  relationships. 

We  are  thus  brought  face  to  face  with  more  than  one 
economic  influence  which  is  so  indirect  and  far-reaching 
that  it  cannot  be  effectively  controlled  by  any  single  individ- 
ual. There  is  need  here  for  collective  moral  action :  within 
the  sphere  of  direct  personal  relation,  the  old  moral  duties 
of  fair  dealing  remain.  In  the  larger  areas  where  markets 
intervene  and  individual  action  is  powerless,  there  must  be 
collective  action  through  constituted  authority  to  enforce 
duty  in  economic  matters.  It  is  easy  to  say  that  men  can- 
not be  made  moral  by  Acts  of  Parliament,  but  it  is  true  to 
reply  that  Acts  of  Parliament  can  enforce  the  performance 
of  any  duties  to  which  the  public  conscience  is  really  awake. 

136.  The  differences,  which  separate  the  industrial  life 
of  the  present  from  that  of  any  earlier  cen-     conclusion. 


254     Outlijies  of  Eytglish  Ind?istrial  History.     [Ch.  x. 

tury,  are  so  complex  as  to  render  it  exceedingly  difficult 
to  apply  the  results  of  historical  investigation  directly  to 
the  practical  questions  of  our  time.  But  though  our 
knowledge  may  not  supply  us  with  cut  and  dried  formulae 
for  the  regeneration  of  society  to-day,  it  will  help  us 
to  understand  our  own  age  more  truly.  By  tracing  the 
origin  and  growth  of  existing  evils  we  may  discover  how 
deep-seated  they  are,  and  how  difficult  to  eradicate :  we 
may  be  able  to  make  a  more  accurate  diagnosis  and  to 
state  more  clearly  the  problems  which  press  for  solution. 
History  may  not  repeat  itself,  but  conditions,  which  are 
more  or  less  similar,  do  recur;  and  we  can,  at  least,  glean 
suggestions  from  the  past  as  to  remedies  which  may  be 
tried  with  some  prospect  of  success.  We  may  receive 
warnings  and  learn  to  detect  some  of  the  dangers  that  lurk 
in  many  well-meant  efforts  for  improvement;  by  so  doing 
we  may  reap  a  benefit  from  past  disasters  and  profit  by  the 
experience  of  bygone  generations.  It  is,  in  some  ways, 
an  admirable  training  to  study  some  burning  questions,  as 
they  presented  themselves  to,  and  were  worked  out  by, 
former  generations  of  men.  Where  our  personal  interests 
are  unaffected,  and  our  private  passions  remain  unroused, 
we  can,  perhaps,  more  easily  do  justice  to  both  sides  of  a 
case;  and  those,  who  have  learned  to  be  fair  in  their 
judgments  on  the  dead,  are  more  likely  to  be  fair  also  in 
controversies  with  the  living.  Enthusiasts  who  seek  some 
Utopian  scheme,  which  will  heal  all  disorders,  may  turn 
from  history  in  disgust;  for  them  it  may  have  no  message. 
But  those,  who  patiently  face  the  fresh  difficulties  which 
each  new  age  presents,  will  find  that  they  can  study  them 
more  thoroughly  and  deal  with  them  more  wisely,  if  they  do 
not  altogether  disdain  such  help  as  may  be  gained  from  an 
impartial  study  of  the  past. 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


Immigrants  to  Britain.     Physical 
Conditions  (Chs.  I.,  II.) 

Manors.     Agriculture  (Chs.  III.,  VIII.) 

400 
500 
GOO 
700 

800 
900 

c.  449-600.     English  Conquest. 
597.     Roman  Mission  (Augustine). 
635.     Columban  Mission  (Aidan). 
787-1042.     Danish  invasions,  settlement,  con- 
quest and  rule. 

410.     Romans  leave  Britain. 

991.     Etheldred  II.  levies  Danegeld. 

1000 

1066-70.     Norman  Conquest. 
1066.     Devastation  of  North. 

Immigration  of  Norman  artisans. 

Cistercian  monasteries  founded. 

1051.     Abolition  of  Danegeld. 

1066-70.     Norman  Conquest. 

1084.     Revival  of  Danegeld. 

1086.     Compilation  of  Domesday  Book. 

1100 

1130,  1156-     Pipe  Rolls. 

1300 

1175-1253.     Grosseteste's  Kjilcs. 

Walter  of  Henley's  Husbandry. 

1236.     Statute  of  Merton. 

1300 

1313-90.     Regulation  of  Staple. 
1331,  1336,  &c.     Influ.\  of  Flemings. 

Introduction  of  old'  drapery. 
c.  1350-C.  1600.     Sheep  farming  at  expense  of 

tillage. 

1327.     Extent  of  Barley. 

1348-50.     Black  Death. 

c.  1350-c.  1600.     Sheep  farming,  depopulation, 

and  enclosures  (for  pasture). 
1351.     Statute  of  Labourers. 
1381.     Peasants'  Revolt. 

1400 

Encouragement  to  English  shipping. 
1492.     America  discovered  by  Columbus. 

1459.     Complaints  at  Coventry  re  enclosures. 

1500 

Hen.  VII.     Convertible  husbandry. 

1517.     Inquisition  into  enclosures. 
1523.     Fitzherbert's  Treatises. 

1561-82.     Immigration  of  Dutch,  Flemish  and 

French  artisans. 
Eliz.     Introduction  of '  new '  drapery. 

1574.     Commission  on  villeinage. 

256 


Towns.     Labour  and  Capital 

National  Economic  Life 

Money.  Credit,  and  !•  niann-  B 

(Chs.  IV.,  IX.) 

(Chs.  v.,  VI.) 

(Ch.  VII.) 

597.  Introduction  of  Christianity. 

c.  790.     Commercial    treaty    between 
Offa  and  Charles  the  Great. 

901-925.     Edward      the      Elder 

918.     Lewisham  granted  to  Benedic- 

fortifies Mercia. 

tine  monastery  at  Ghent. 

1086.     Domesday  Survey  taken. 

1095.     First  Crusade. 

Hen.  I.     Rise  of  Weavers'  gilds. 

Hen.  I.,  Hen.  II.     Organisation     of 

1125. 

Punishment  of   dis- 

Hen. II.     Assize  of  Bread. 

Exchequer. 

honest  moneyers. 

1190.     Leicester  Charter. 

Hen.  II.     Conne.\ion  w.  Gascony. 

Hen. 

II.      Re-organisation 

1197.     Assize  of  Measures. 

„           Assize  of  Bread. 

of  Mint. 

1197.     Assize  of  Measures. 

1181. 

Assize  of  Arms. 

Rise  of  Gilds  Merchant. 

Hen.  III.     Heavy  papal  taxation. 

1205.     Coventry  Bakers'  Gild. 

Edw.  I.     Mint  Regulations. 

1254.     Riot  at  Reading. 

1277-83.     Welsh  Wars. 

c.  1266.     Assize  of  Bread. 

1283.     Statute  of  Acton  Burnell. 

1275. 

Antiqua  Costuma. 

Edw.  I.     Migration  from    North- 

1285.    .Statute  of  Winchester. 

1292. 

Statute  de  Moneta. 

ampton. 

1290.     Expulsion  of  Jews. 

1297. 

Confirmation      of 

1270.     Last  Crusade. 

1295.     Model  Parliament. 

Charters. 

1272.     Riot  at  Norwich. 

1296-    Wars  against  Scotland. 

1299. 

Statute  de  falsa  iilo- 

1295.     Model  Parliament. 

neta. 

1321.     Submission     of      London 

Edw.  III.     Mint  Regulations. 

i3°3- 

Nova  Custuma. 

Weavers. 

1328.     Complaints  about  aulnager. 

1334- 

Financial  agreement 

1327.     Disturbance  at  Reading. 

1313-90.     Organisation  of  Staple. 

fixing   tenths   and 

1331,  1336.     Immigration  of  Flemings. 

fifteenths. 

1339-1453.     Hundred  Years  War. 

1335- 

Export     of     bullion 

1345.     Grocers'  Company. 

1351.     Statute  of  Labourers. 

without        licence 

1348-50.     Black  Death. 

1353.     Ordinance  of  Staple. 

forbidden. 

1381.     Peasants'  Revolt. 

1360.     Treaty  of  Bretigni. 

1347. 

1348.     Rise  in  prices. 

Edw.  III.     Craft  Gilds. 

1376.     Good  Parliament. 

1351. 

Issue  of  lighter  coins. 

,,     Drapers  appear  as  dealers. 

Ric.  II.     Attempts  to  restrict  to  one 

i377> 

1381.     Poll  taxes. 

,,     Riseof  Livery  Companies. 

calling. 

1381.     Encouragement        to         ship- 
building. 

1381.     Export  of  bullion  prohibited. 

1403.     Treaty  with  Castile. 

Hen.  v.,  Hen.  VI.    Encouragement  of 

ship-building. 

1412, 

1464.     Debasement  of 

1429.     '  Rovers  of  Sea.' 

coinage. 

Rural  migration  checked. 

1465.     Regulation  of  Cloth  trade. 
1474.     Treaty  with  Hansards. 

1480.     Search  for  Brazil. 

1472. 

Subsidy. 

1455-85.     Wars  of  Roses. 

1485.     Consul  at  Pisa. 

1465.     Cloth    trade   regulated   on 

1490.     Treaty  with  Iceland. 

capitalist  lines. 

Treaty  with  Florence. 

Struggles     between     jour- 

1492.    Discovery  of  America  by  Co- 

neymen and  weavers. 

lumbus. 

Remissions  of  ta.xation. 

1496.     '  Magnus  Intercursus." 

Rise  of  Merchant  adventurers. 
Hen.  VIII.,   Edw.  VI.     Restrictions 
on  possession  of  sheep. 

1513.     Arsenal  at  Deptford. 

Hen. 

VIII.    Debasement  of 

1514.     Incorporation   of    Brethren   of 

coinage. 

Trinity  House. 

1514. 

General  subsidy. 

1517.     '  Evil  May  Day.' 

1517.     Inquisition  into  enclosures. 

1519.     Jurisdiction  of  Mayor  as- 

1548.    Combination  Law. 

American  mines. 

serted  at  York. 

1555.     .Surveyors  of  highways. 

Hen.  VIII.  Growth  of  new  towns. 

1558.     Migration  from  towns  checked. 

1551- 

Further  debasement. 

1552.     Gig  mills  condemned. 

1562.     Almsgiving  made  compulsory. 

1561. 

Coinage  purified. 

1555-     Weavers'  Act. 

1563.     Statute  of  Apprentices. 

1558.     Weaving  in  country  check- 

1563.    Act  for  encouragement  of  navy. 

ed.  ^ 

1565.     Walloons  at  Norwich. 

1563.     Statute  of  Apprentices. 

1570.     Dutch      Baymakers     at     Col- 
chester. 

1589.     Lee's  knitting  frame. 

1581.     Turkey  Company  incorporated. 

Immigrants  to  Britain.     Physical 
Conditions  (Chs.  I.,  II.) 


Manors.     Agriculture  (Chs.  III.,  VIII.) 


Newfoundland  fishery. 


1634,  1649-     Draining  of  Fens. 
1651,  1660.     Navigation  Acts. 


1685.     Immigration  of  French  refugees. 


1700 


1709.     Immigration  from  Palatinate. 
1713.     Treaty  of  Utrecht  and  Assiento. 


1741.     General  Highway  Act. 

1760.     Manchester  and  Worsley  canal. 

1760.     Roebuck's  blast  furnace. 


Water  power  and  machinery. 


1800 


1815.     Macadam  appointed  Surveyor. 


Advance  in  theory. 

Markham,    Weston,    Plat,    etc.    write 

Treatises. 
Cultivation  of  root  crops. 


1649-     Vermuiden  drains  fens. 


Corn  Bounty  Act. 


Improvements    in    practice,    e.g.    rota- 
tion of  crops,  cultivation  of  grasses. 


1710-     Enclosures  (for  tillage). 


1759.     Duke  of  Bridgewater  employs  Brindley. 


1773-93.     Ex-portation  of  corn  ceases. 

1773.     Corn  Law. 

1776.     Declaration  of  Independence. 


1793.     French  and  Napoleonic  Wars. 

Decline  of  yeomanry. 
1795.     Allowances  to  labourers. 

Decline  of  domestic  spinning. 

Fluctuation  of  prices. 


1812.     '  Swing'  riots. 

1S15.     Corn  Law. 

1815-46.     Depression  of  Agriculture. 

1832.     Reform  Bill. 

1834.     Thorough  drainage  advocated. 

1846.     Repeal  of  Corn  Laws. 

1846-74.     Agricultural  revival. 


258 


Towns.     Labour  and  Capital 
(Chs.  IV.,  IX.) 


National  Economic  Life 
(Chs.  v.,  VL) 


Money,  Credit,  and  I'inance 
(Ch.  VII.) 


Town  purchases  of  coal. 

1624.     Act  of  1558  repealed. 


Abuses  among  Framework 
Knitters. 


Kay's  flying  shuttle. 

Paul's    wool-carding     ma- 
chine. 

Flying  shuttle  in  the  cot- 
ton trade. 

Hargreaves'  spinning  jen- 
ny. 

Arkwright's  spinning  roll- 
er. 

Crompton's  mule. 

Cartwright's  power  loom. 

Boulton  and  Watt's  steam 
engine  at  Papplewick. 
1790.     Cartwright's  wool  combing 
machine. 

Kelly  utilises  water  power. 
1793-1815.      Revolutionary      and 
Napoleonic  Wars. 

1800.     Combination  Law. 

1802,1819,1833,1847.  FactoryActs. 

1803.  Johnson's  dressing  machine. 

1812,  1816.     Luddite  riots. 

1816.  Eastern  Counties  bread  riots. 

1825.  Bradford  Wool  combers' 
strike. 

1841.  Regulation  of  Child  la- 
bour in  mines. 

c.  1840.  Power  weaving  super- 
sedes hand  work. 

1846.  Incorporation  of  IMan- 
chester. 

1849.     Cholera. 

1856.  Canongate,  I'roughton, 
Portsborow  absorbed  in 
Edinburgh. 


1600.  East  India  Company. 

1601.  Poor  Law. 

1601.     Saltpetre  patent  retained. 
1612.     E.  I.  Co.  charter  renewed. 
1624.     Sheffield  Cutlers  incorporated. 
1624.     Patents  and  monopolies  limited. 
1631.     Baltimore  destroyed  by  pirates. 
1634.     Ship  money  writs, 
c.  1634.     Linen  manufacture  in  Ulster. 
1651,  1660.     Navigation  Acts. 
1662.     Settlement  Act. 

1665.  Aulnagers  for  Ireland. 

Ch.  II.     Negociations  with  pirates. 
1665-97.  Western  clothiers  in  Ireland. 

1666.  Export    of    Irish     cattle    pro- 

hibited. 
1670.    Kidderminster  Carpet  Weavers. 
1684.     Sandys  v.  E.  I.  Company. 
1689.     Bill  of  Rights. 
i68g.     Corn  Bounty  Act. 
1694.     Bank  of  England  founded. 

1697.  Duties  on  Irish  cloth. 

1698.  Eddystone  lighthouse. 
1698-1708.     Struggle     between     Lon- 
don and  General  E.  I.  Co. 


1703. 
1704. 

1707. 
1709, 
1721- 

1723, 
1728, 

1732' 

1741 
1763. 
1776 


England    z).    France    in    India 
and  America. 

Methuen  Treaty. 

Importation    of    naval     stores 
favoured. 

Act  of  Union  with  Scotland. 

Re-issue  of  Assize  of  Bread. 
-42.     Walpole's  ministry. 

General  Workhouse  Act. 
1756.     Wages  assessed  in  Shrop- 
shire. 

Export  of  American  hats  for- 
bidden. 

General  Highway  Act. 

Conquest  of  French  Canada. 

Declaration  of  Independence. 


1780.     Irish    commercial    disabilities 

removed. 
1782.     Gilbert's  Act. 


1793-1815.     French    and    Napoleonic 

Wars. 
1795.     '  Speenhamland  '  decision. 

1795.  '  Minimum  '  wage  proposed. 

1796.  Allowances  further  legalised. 

1800.     Combination  Act. 
1800,  1808.  '  Minimum  '  wage  proposed 
1802,  1816,  1833,  1847.     Factory  Acts. 
1809.     Restrictions  on  Cloth  trade  re- 
moved. 

1813.  Trade  with  India  opened. 
Stat,  of  1563  re  wages  repealed. 

1814.  ,,         ,,       apprentices     ,, 

1815.  Corn  Law. 

1818.     Piracy  in  Mediterranean  ceases. 

1824.     Emigration  permitted. 

1824,  1825.     Repeal    of    Combination 

Laws. 
1846.     Repeal  of  Corn  Laws. 
1849.     Repeal  of  Navigation  Laws. 


259 


1634-39.     .Ship  money. 

Commonwealth.      Monthly 
assessments. 
"        Excise. 

1660.     Commutation  for  feu- 
dal dues. 

1666.     Coinage  of  guineas. 


1670.    Closing  of  Exchequer 


1694.  Bank     of     England 

founded. 

1695.  Bank     of     Scotland 

founded. 

1696.  Recoinage  (Newton) 


1720.     Failure  of  South  Sea 

Scheme. 
1721-42.     Walpole.  Refonii 

of  tariffs. 


1776.     A.  Smith's   Wealth 
of  Nations. 


1783-1806.     Pitt.     Simplifi 
cation  of  Taxation 


1797. 
1797- 


Triple  Assessment. 
Suspension   of  cash 
payments. 


1816.  Demonetisation  of  sil- 
ver. 

1819.  Resumption  of  cash 
payments. 

1824-28.  Huskisson's  re- 
vision of  tariffs. 

1842-46.  Peel's  financial 
reforms. 

1844.     Bank  Charter  Act. 


INDEX. 


Aberdeenshire,  167 
Accounts,  manorial  37 
Acton  Burnell,  Statute  of  no 
Advantages,  physical  243 
Adventurers,  llS 
Affiliation,  57 
Africa,  167 

African  Company,  1 1 9 
Agricultural  employment,  92 

"  Revolution,  1S5,   193 

Agriculture,  i,  25,  S3,  87, 185,  207, 
241,  249 
"  committees  on  194 

"  competition  in  195 

"  extensive  166 

"  improvements  in  168, 

185,  186,  195 
"  intensive  167. 

See  Cultivation,  Hus- 
bandry, Labourers, 
Tillage 
Aids,  154 
Aldermen,  61 
Ale,  33 

Ale-houses,  98 
Algiers,  1 1 1 

Alien  merchants,  53,  64,  142 
xVlien  workmen,  56,   98,  99,   lOO. 

See  Artisans 
Allotments,  187,  188,  189,  196 
Allowances,  86,  87,  94,  188,  222 
Alva,  Duke  of  14 
America,  102,  114,  124,  139.     See 

Colonies 
Angles,  47 

Apprentices,  64,  65,  83,  203,  206, 
215,  216,  251. 


Apprenticeship,  59,  61,  103,   104, 

201,  216 
Archangel,  114 
Arkwright,  Sir  R.  220 
Armada,  Spanish  156 
Arsenal,  at  Deptford,  125 
Artisans,   87,   202,  203,  23.),  247, 
248 
"         and    Combination    law, 

214 
"         Burgundian  12 
"         dexterity  of  15 
"         Norman  12 
"         skilled  103 
Ashley,  Professor  203 
Assize,  of  Bread  56,  96 
"       of  Measures  57 
Associations,    214.       See    Combi- 
nations 
Astriction,  loi 
Athens,  89 
Aulnager,  96,  97 
Authorities,  local  109 

"  municipal    104.      See 

Government 

Bacon,  Francis  84 
Bailiff,  37,  38,  177,  181 

"       farming  41,  42,43,  175 
Bakewell,  Mr.  186 
Balance  of  trade,  129,  130,  148 
Balks,  170,  186 
Baltic,  48 
Baltimore,  III 
Bank  notes,  148 

"         "       depreciation  of  149 
Bank  of  Ayr,  149 


261 


262       Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History. 


Bank  of  England,  130,  148,  149, 
150,  151,  152, 
161,  162 
"  "        Charter  Act  152 

"  "         rate  151 

Banking,  16 
Banks,  Hamburgh  152 

"       Scotch  149 
Barbon,  Dr.  129 
Bargaining,  141,  165 
Barley,  173,  174,  178 
Barter,  140,  141,  165 
Battle  of  Hastings,  13 
Baymakers,  Dutch  99 
Bedford,  Duke  of  186 
Beeherd,  248 
Berkshire,  86 
Bill  of  Rights,  116 
Bimetallists,  148 
Black  Death,40,  41,42,  60,  65,  82, 

90,  175.  177 

Blast  furnace,  18 

Bocking,  103 

Bombay,  243 

Boots,  245 

Borley,  Extent  0/2,9 

Borneo  Company,  119 

Boulton,  M.  223 

Bounties,  162,  164 

"  on  herrings  125 

"  on  raw  produce  132 

Bradford,  213,  218,  224 

Braintree,  103 

Brazil,  1 14 

Bread,  t,?>>  244.     See  Assize 

Bricklayers  of  Hull,  61 

Bridges,  21,  156 

Bright,  J.  88 

Bristol,  58 

Britain,  as  granary  19 

"       disintegration  of  society  in 

9 
"       English  Conquest  of  8,  9, 

10 
"       Roman  9,  10,  47 
Britons,  8 
Broadcloth,  136 
Broughton,  50 
Bruges,  57 


Bullion,  100,  126,  127,  147,  149 

Bullion  Committee,  150 

BuUionists,  127,  128 

Burgundy,  130 

Bury,  48,  54 

Butter,  20 

By-employments,  86,  223,  232 

Calais,  145 

Cambridge,  43,  48,  49 

Canada,  French  135 

Canals,  19,  21,  22,  139,  184 

Canongate,  50 

Canterbury,  48 

Canynges,  W.  125 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  114 

Capital,  5,  132,  151,  168,  169,202, 

207,  208,  209,  213,  219, 

235,  236,  237, 239,  240 

"        interest  of  210,  211,  212, 

239,  240 
"        profits  of  236 

Capitalist  farming,  175,  180,  181 

Capitalists,  197,  207,  210,  211,  212, 
214,  235,  237,  238 
"  in  cloth  trade  203 

Carders,  204 

Carding  machines,  222 

Carlisle,  99 

Carpet-weavers,  99 

Carriage,  176,  243 

Carrying  trade,  25 

Carthaginian  traders,  18 

Cartwright,  Dr.  224 

Cash  payments,  150,  152 

Castle  Acre,  93 

Cattle,  20,  38,  39,  177,  178,  179 
"       Irish  138,  180 

Cavel,  55 

Chapman,  30 

Charles  I,  98,  ill,  137,  145,  156, 
157,  158,  159,  161 

Charles  H,  loi,  1 11,  138,  147,  i6r, 
184 

Charles  V,  127 

Charters,  10,  51,  52,  54,  62 

Cheese,  20,  244 

Chester,  49 

Chesterfield,  55 


Index 


263 


Chiklrcii,  and  poor  law  authorities, 

215,  217 
Children,  as  chimney-sweeps  215 
"         in  factories  107,  214,  215, 
216,  217,  21^,  221,  223 
"         in  mines  219 
Chimney-sweeping,  215 
China,  117,  118 
Cholera,  221 

Christchurch,  Canterbury,  37 
Christianity,  introduction  of  47 
Christians,  British  9 
Christmas,  39 
Churchwardens,  92 
Cistercians,  20 
Civil    War,    136,    146,    156,    158. 

184 
Civilisation,  English  9,  15,  36 

"  Roman  8,  9,  11,  36 

Claret,  130,  131 
Class  distinctions,  201 
Clerks,  229 
Closes,  178 

Cloth,  64,  96,  123,  136,  203,  204, 
220,  231,  245 

"       dressing  of  23 

"       export  of  26 

"       Irish  97,  136 
Clothes,  245 
Clothiers,  137,  204,  205,  206,  207, 

208 
Cloth   trade,   20,   23,   26,  83,   91, 

97,  100,  103,  205,  220,  222,  226, 

230 
Clothing,  227,  233,  247 
Clover,  174,  185 
Coachmen,  228 
Coal,  18,  19,  26,  55 

"      export  of  190 

"      facilities  for  working  22 

"      smelting  with  18 
Coal  fields,  23,  243 
Coasts,  113,  156 
Cobden,  R.  88 
Coinage,  142,  143,  145,  147 
Coins,  127,  144 
Colchester,  14,  50,  99 
Colonial  products,  245 
Colonies,  25,  133,  139 


Colonies,  American  94,  122,   123, 
126,  139 
"         restrictions  on  242 
"         West  Indian  122 
Colonisation,  102 
Colonists,  133 
Combinations,  65,  104,  106 
Combination  Laws  (1548)  105 

"  "       (1800)       105, 

106,  214 
Commerce,  241 

"  inter-municipal  50,  109 

"  maritime  25 

"  with  New  World  25 

Commission,  on  Factories  216 

"  on  Hand-loom  wea- 

vers 224,  226 
Committee,  on  Bullion  150 

"  on  Factories  216,  217 

Commodities,  foreign  244,  245 
Common  rights,  39,  171,  187 
Common  waste,  38,  39,  92,  170, 
171,  178,  179, 
186 
"  "        evictions  from  44 

Commoners,  and  enclosures  187 

"  and  fens  1 83 

Commonwealth,  ill,  122 
Communication,  195,  244,  246 
"  commercial  232 

"  internal    10,    24, 

.95 
"  with  Rome  lo 

Companies,  chartered  62 

"  incorporated  98,  99 

"  joint-stock  and  regu- 

lated 115,  116.    See 
African,  &c. 
Competition,   141,    165,  213,  215, 

217,  219,  236,  240,  241,  243 
Conditions,  insanitary  247 
Conejuest,  English  8,  9,  47 

"  Norman   12,   142,    175, 

202,  248 
Constantinople,  25 
Consuls,  112 
Cookson,  Mr.  83 
Co-operative  Societies,  234 
Ciipyhold  tenures,  44 


264       Outlines  of  Efiglish  Industrial  History. 


Cordwainers,  64 

"  of  Exeter  61 

Corn,  84,  85,  86,  87,  96,  146,  176, 

178,  180,  249 
Corn,  export  of  25,  138,  190 
"       grinding  of  51 
"       price  of  145,  190,  191 
"       mills  23 
"       rent  193,  194 
Corn  Laws,  (16S9),  85,  13S,  185, 
189,  194 
"       (i773)>  190 
"       (1815),  87,    88,    89, 

194,  195 

"         "      Repeal  of  88,  164 
Cornwall,  18 
Cottagers,  1S8,  197 
Cottages,  93,  190,  221,  223 
Cotton  cloth,  221,  224 

"       mills,  215,  216,  217 

"      trade,  216,  224,  226,  228 

"       weaving,  220 
Court  Rolls,  37 
Courts,    manorial    44,     96.       See 

Manor 
Coventry,  15,  44,  56,  58,  64,  65 
Cows,  178,  187 
Cow's  grass,  188 
Craft-gilds,  16,  60,  62,  63,  64,  105, 

250 
Craftsmen,  62,  63,  64,  202 
Credit,  148,  15 1,  152,  160 
Crete,  112 
Crofters,  180 
Crompton,  S.  220 
Cromwell,  O.  116 
T.  122 
Croppers,  230 
Crops,  new  185 

"       rotation  of  169,    174,   185, 
186,  192 
Crown,   102,   104,   109,  116,  137, 

138,  142,  153,  156,157,159,  165 
Crown  lands,  157 
Crusades,  12,  46,  47,  51 
Cultivation,    extensive    166,    167, 
170,  172,  196 
"  intensive     167,     169, 

170,  172 


Currency,  127 
Customs,  153 

"  on  cloth  136 

Customs,  local  34 

"  mercantile  52 

Cutlers,  Sheffield  99,  231 
Cutlery,  16 

Danes,  10,  11,  48,  167 

"        forts  of  48 

"        struggle  with  47 
Danegeld,  32,  2,t„  34 
Danelagh,  1 1 
Darien  Company,  237 
Darien  scheme,  123 
Debts,  52,  no 
Declaration  of  Independence,  139, 

190 
Deer  forests,  180 
Defoe,  D.  103 
Demand,  211,  228,  230 
Demesne,  38,  1 70 
Depopulation,  44,  82,  84,  177,  184 
Depression,    industrial    212,    213, 

231 
Derby,  58 
Derbyshire,  23,  221 
Devonshire,  222 
Diminishing  returns,  law  of  168, 

169 
Discourse  of  Common  Weal,  144, 

241 
Distress,  agricultural  195 

"  among  P'ramework  Knit- 

ters 206.     See  Depres- 
sion 
Ditching,  179 
Division  of  labour,   4,   198,   199, 

200,  201,  202,  207,  232,  235 
Dockyards,  125,  238 
Domesday  Book,   12,    32,    34,   35, 

36,  50 
Domesday  Survey,  49,  50,  174 
Domestic  weaving,  205 
Drainage,  19,  195 

"         of  fens  19,  183 
Drapers,  204,  208 
Drapery,  16 
Drivers,  229 


fudcA 


265 


Dublin,  55,  136,  138 
Dutch,  159,  1S4 

"         carrying  trade  of  122 

"         engineers  16 

"         imitation  of  16 
Duties,  162,  164 
Duty,  personal  251 
Dyers,  204 

Earthenware,  16 
East,  commercial  empire  in  25 
"    communication  with  1 14 
East  India  Company,  1 1 4, 1 1 6, 1 1 7, 
119, 127, 128, 
151, 162,  237 
"      "  "         Dutch  117 

"       "  "         servants  of  210 

Easter,  39 

Eastern  Counties,  23,  204 
Economic  policy,  5 

"  relations  251 

Economists,  doctrinaire  214,  239 
Economy,  money  5,  140,  141,  154, 
157,    i6o,    165,    176, 
208,  209 
"  natural  4,  140,  141,  165 

Edict  of  Nantes,  Revocation  of  15 
Edinburgh,  50 

"  town  mills  55 

Edward  I,  13,  no,  142,  154 
Edward  II,  154 
Edward  III,  39,  90,  91,  97,   no, 

121,  143,  145,  161,  244,  245 
Edward  IV,  97,  112 
Edward  VI,  84,  105,  114,  122,  127, 

143,  144,  179,  180,  206 
Edward  the  Confessor,  12 
Edward  the  Elder,  48 
Efficiency,  227,  228,  239,  243 

liggs,  193.  244 

Elizabeth,   84,  90,   98,    104,    122, 

144,  145,   146,    157,    179,    266, 
,  237,  247 

iMnigration,  102 

Employers,  211.     See  Division  of 
Lal)our 
"  functions  of  237,  238 

Employment,  232,  245,  247 

"  field  for  229,  239 


Employment,  of  children  217,  218. 
See  Children 
"  opportunities  for  230 

"  remunerative       242, 

249 
Enclosure  Acts,  187 
Enclosures,    178,   179,    180,    186. 

188,  192,  232 
Engineering  trades,  243 
English  Conquest.      See  Conquest 
Enterprise,  114 
Essex,  103,  184 
Estate  management,  37,  41 
Estates,  royal  153 
Exchange,  140 

Exchequer,  32,  52,  59,  153,  161 
Excise,  98,  134,  158 

"       hereditary  159,  160 

"       on  beer  159 
Exeter,  cordwainers  of  61 

"       merchant    adventurers    of 

113 

"       St.  Olaf's  48 

"      Tailors  of  60 
Exportation,  of  cattle  138 
Exports,  128,  151,  153 
Extent,  37 

Factories,  83,  205,  215,  219,  223, 
225 
"  and  character  233 

Factories  (settlements),  253 
Factory  Acts,  107,  216,  218,  234 
"        inspectors  21S 
"        system  233 
"        towns  221,  223,  228 
Fairs,  22,  30,  47,  55,  64,  203 
"      St.  Ives  22 
"      Stourl^ridge  22,  57 
Fallow,  173,  174,  178 
Famines,  247 
Farmers,  87 

"        capitalist  191 
"       small  176,  191,  193 
"       tenant,  191 
"       yeoman   185,    1S7,    189, 
190,  191,  250 
Farming.     See   Capitalist,    Bailiff, 
ant!  Sheep-farming 


266       Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History. 


Farms,  arable  184 
"      large  196 
"      small  189 
Fens,  16,  183 

"     draining  of  19 
Ferm,  52 
Feudal  dues,  159 
Fields,  common  170,  191 
"      open  170,  171,  172 
"      permanent  170,  178 
Finance,  Dutch  159 
Financial  policy,  of  Huskisson  164 
"  "  North  163 

Peel  164 
Pitt  163 
"  "  Walpole,    162, 

163,  164 
Fish,  21 

Fisheries,  21,  124,  125,  132 
"         Dutch  125 
"         herring  21 
Fitzherbert,  Sir  A.  175,  182 
Flanders,  143,  147,  182 
Flax,  15,  126,  217 
Flemings,  immigration  of  12,  14, 

97 
Fluctuation,  249 
Flying  shuttle,  220,  230 
Food,  dearness  of  188,  190 
"      rents,  31 

"      supply,  82,    118,  121,   138, 
177,  184,  247,  249 
Foreigners,  57 
Forest  of  Dean,  9,  18 
Forests,  19 
Frame  rents,  206 
Framework  Knitters,  206,  213 
France,  116,  124,  129,  130,  163 
Francigence,  50 
Freedom,  economic  loi,  108 

"         of  association   54,   loi, 

104,  108 
"        of  employment  loi,  103, 

104 
"         of  movement  loi,  102 
Freeholders,  small  191,  192 
Free  trade,  165,  243,  244,  245,  246 
Friendly  Societies,  234 
Frieze,  136 


Fruit,  244 

Fuel,  19,  26,  126,  135,  184,  243 

Fuller,  204 

Fulling  mills,  206 

Furniture,  31 

Galway,  123 

Gardens,  196 

Genoese,  125 

George  III,  186,  248 

Georgia,  253 

Germany,  136 

Gig-mills,  206 

Gilbert's  Act,  94 

Gild. merchant,  54,  60,  62,  63 
"  "  at  Preston  62 

"  "  at  Shrewsbury  63 

"  "         privileges  of  55, 56 

Gilds,  105 
"       Bakers'  56 
"       of  journeymen  65 

Glastonbury,  14 

Gloucestershire,  23,  91 

Gold,  127,  128,  129,  142,  147,149 

Gold  lace,  98 

Goldsmiths,  146,  149,  1 61 

Gott,  Mr.  222 

Government,  local  46 

"  municipal  13,  16 

Granaries,  55 

Granborough,  40 

Grasses,  185,  192 

Graziers,  138 

Grazing,  20,  178,  180,  192 
"        rights,  187,  231 

Grocers,  63,  113 

Gross,  Dr.  54,  62 

Grosseteste,  Bp.  30 

Guards,  229 

Guineas,  147 

Gunpowder,  98 

Pladrian's  wall,  18 

Hales,  J.  241 

Halifax,  204 

Handloom  weavers,  224,  225,  226 

Hand-work,  226 

Hansards,  53,  11 1 

Hanse.     See  Gild  merchant. 


Index. 


267 


Harbours,  25,  113 

Hardware,  23,  243 

Hargreaves,  J.  220 

Harvest,  39 

Hatfield  Chase,  183 

Hats,  135 

Hay  ward,  38 

Hedging,  179 

Hemp,  126 

Henry  I,  142,  153 

Henry  II,  105,  142 

Henry  III,  154,  175 

Henry  IV,  65,  83 

Henry  V,  ill,  125 

Henry  VI,  83,  105,  ill 

Henry  VII,  112 

Henry   VIII,   84,    125,  143,   156, 

175 
Hereford,  58 
Hereward,  202 
Herring  trade,  125 
Hibbert,  F.  63 
Hides,  20 

Highway  Act  (1741),  22,  95 
Holkham,  186 
Holland,  22,  116,  184 
Horses,  228 
Horse  breeders,  228 
Hours  of  labour,  61,  217,  218 
Housing  of  factory  workers,  222 
Hull,  99,  113 

"      Bricklayers  of  61 

"     Merchant    Adventurers     of 

113 
Husbandry,  182 

"  convertible  178,  179, 

186 
"  in  Brabant  182 

Husting  Court,  48 

Iceland,  48 

Immigrants,  13,  17 

"  English  13 

"  Danish  13 

"  French  15 

"  Flemish  12,  14,  97 

"  Normans  12 

"  from  Palatinate  15 

"  Italian  14 


Imports,   87,   128,    151,    153,    245 

"  cheap  244 

Income-tax,  164        ■^^^ 
India,  124,  129,  166,  210,  248,  249 
Industrial  Revolution,  5,  207,  219, 

226,  231,  232,  233,  235 
Industries,  cottage  232 
Industry,  241 

"  capitalist  207 

Insular  position,  24 
Insurance,  16 
Intercourse,    commercial   5,   241, 

244,  246,  247,  250,  251,  253 
Intercourse,  free  131 
Interest,  151,  162 
Interlopers,  116 
In-town  lands,  167 
Ipswich,  49,  54 

Ireland,  48,  58,  102,  123,  126,  135, 
137'  139,  180 

"         agriculture  in  138 

"         commercial  freedom  139 

"         trade  of  123 
Iron,  18,  19,  .135 

"      trade  126 
Iron-smelting,  18,  23 
Italians,  14 

James  I,  84,  98,  105,  11 1,  116,  127, 

155,  180,  205 
James  II,  137 
Jews,  53,  154 
John,  King  56 

Joint-stock  Companies,  1 19,  120 
Journeymen,  64,  65,  203,  206 
Justices  of  Peace,  44,  86,  90,  91, 

94,  95,  lOI 

Kelly,  Mr.  221 
Kensington,  86 
Kent,  14,  43 
Kidderminster,  99 
King's  Peace,  1 10 
Knitting,  206 

Labour,  239 

"        demand  for  228 

"        division  of  5,  198,  199 

"        of  children  107 


268       Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History. 


Labour,  scarcity  of  175 
"        in  mines  107 
"        interests  of  210,  211,  212, 

240 
"        skilled  220,  230 
"        struggles  234 
Labourers,  87,  loi,  187,  188,  189, 
208,  209,  210,  211, 
212,  214,  226,  228, 
229,  232,  234,  238, 

239.  245 
"  agricultural    199,  231, 

232,    234 
"  free  41 

'■  intellectual  progress  of 

235 

"  interest  of  239 

"  skilled  61,  65 

"  Statutes  of  41,  90,  loi 

"  unskilled  61,  65 

Lace-work,  206 
Laissez    faire,   91,   107,  213,  214, 

215 
Lanark,  221 
Lancashire,  91 
Lancastrians,  loi 
Lanrl.     See  Agriculture 
Land-tax,  136 
Landlords,  87,  93 
Lawmen,  48 
Lead,  18,  20 
Leasehold  farming,  41,  43 

"  tenure  181 

Leather,  20,  64 
Lee,  \V.  206 
Leeds,  204,  224,  231 
Legislation,  pliilanthropic  106,  107 
Leicester,  48,  51 
Lent,  125 
Levant,  1 13 
Life,  municipal  24,  28 

"     national  28,  29 
Lighthouses,  113 
Lincoln,  48,  58 
Linen,  123 
Linen  trade,  16,  132,  137,  217 

"       Irish  136,  137 

"      weavers,  15 
Littleport,  43 


Livery  Companies,  63,  64 

Loans,  150,  151,  161 

London,   18,  25,  27,  48,   50,   54, 
58,    63,    64,    65,    99, 
103,  129,  184,  206 
"  custom  of  58 

London  and,North-Western  Rail- 
way, 236 

Long  Parliament,  153 

Looms,  206,  220,  226 

Louis  XIV,  136,  161 

Love-brothers,  63 

Low  Countries,  20,  112,  137,  147, 

183 
Lucca,  20 

Macadam,  J.  L.  22 
Macclesfield,  15 
Machines,  226,  235 

"  destruction  of  222 

Machinery,   18,  23,  212,  214,  218, 
224,  225,  226,  230 
"  fencing  of  218 

"  introduction    of   213, 

219,  222,  227,  228, 
229,  230,  243 
McKinley  Bill,  246 
Magna  Carta,  154 
I\Lala  tolta,  154 
Management,  wages  of  238 
Manchester,  46,  51,  221 
Manor,  4,  29,  30,  zt>^  34.  35'  4i7 
44,  46,  47.  103,  176 
"        accounts  of  43,  176 
"        courts  of  T^T, 
"        custom  of  34 
"        decay  of  44 
"        fiscal  aspect  of  32 
"        jurisdiction  of  t^t,^  44 
"        lord  of  104,  170 
"        records  of  37 
"        thirteenth  century  36 
Manufacture,  28 

"  development  of  242 

Manures,  167,  178,  195 
Markets,  distant  204 

"         for  English  goods  88 
Markham,  G.   1S2 
Marseilles,  25 


Index. 


269 


Mary  Tudor,  205 
Matlock,  224 
Mayor,  52,  61,   63 
Meadow,  38,  39,  178 

"  rights  187 

Meat,  244 

Mediterranean  trade.  III 
Mercantilists,  121,  127,  128,  162 
Mercers,  112 
Merchant  Adventurers,   112,  113, 

116 
Merchant  Law,  57 
Merchant  Taylors,  64 
Merchants,  20,  63,  204 

"  ahen  64,  142 

Mercia,  Lady  of  48 
Merton,  Statute  of  39 
Michaelmas,  38,  39 
Middle  Ages,  loi,  105,  145,  148, 

158 
Middleman,  203 
Migration,  of  artisans  242 
"  oPindustry  23 

"  of  labour  232 

"  of  manufactures  193 

"  restrictions     on,     loi, 

103 
"  to  Continent  136 

"  to  Ireland  136,  137 

Milk,  193 
Mills,  Bom!:)ay  243 
Mines,  219 
Mint,  142,  143 
Monasteries,  95 

"  ]5enedictine  48 

"  Columban  9 

Money,  5,  140,  141,  153,  157 

"      lenders,i54.  5'^^ Economy 
Moneyers,  142,  143 
Monopolies,  98 
Morocco,  III 
Municipalities,  12,  24 

Napoleon,  26,  124 
National  Debt,  26,  1 61 
Nationalities,  growth  of  13 
Naval  Stores,  124,  126 
Navigation  Acts,    121,    122,    123, 
124,  136 


Navy,  118,  124,  157 

Newcastle,  58,  99 

Newfoundland,  21,  125 

Newspapers,  233 

New  World,  12,  25,  144,  148 

Nobles,  Rose  143 

Norfolk,  43,  93,  184 

Normans,  12 

North,  Lord  163 

Northampton,  53 

Northmen,  10.     See  Danes 

Northumbria,  167 

Norway,  126 

Norwich,   14,  48,  49,  50,  54,  57, 

99 
Nottingham,  54,  58,  206,  221 

Oats,  173 
Oldham,  243 
Open  fields,  179,  186 
Opera  vendita,  40 
Oranges,  233 
Orders,  religious  12 
Oresme,  N.  143 
Organisation,  artisan  234 

"  economic  248,  249, 

250 

"  industrial  243,  247, 

249 

"  manorial.        See 

Manors 

"  munici]ial  112 

"  national  4,  95,  112 

"  social  250 

Ormond,  Duke  of  138 
Out-town  lands,  167 
Outdoor  relief,  93,  94 
Overwork,  223 
Oxford,  65,  83 

Paper,  manufacture  of  16 

Paper  money,  146,  148 

"  "         inconvertible  150 

Parish,  93,  95 

Parks,  179 

Parliament,  13,  59,  60,  87,90,  92, 
95,  99,  104,  109, 
no,  117,  137,  138, 
154,  15s,  214,  248 


270       Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History 


Parliament,   and   minimum   wage 

91 
"  Irisli  139 

Parochial  relief,  1S9 
Pasture,  42,  44 
Pasture- farming,    5,    20,  42,    177, 

180,   181,   182,    183,    184,   231. 

See  Grazing 
Patents,  98,  99 
Pauperism,  252 
Payments  in  kind,  153,  165 
Peace,  king's  24 
Peak, 9 

Peasant  Revolt,  42,  43,  60 
Pedlars,  47,  203 
Peel,  Sir  R.  (elder)  215,  216 
Peel,  Sir  R.  164 
Persia,  114 
Perth,  49 

Pestilences,  12,  247 
Philip  II,  205 
Phoenicians,  18,  167 
Physical  conditions,  17 
Pigs,  196 
Pilgrimage,  48 
Pilots,  113,  114 
Piracy,  no,  in,  118 
Pisa,  1 1 2 

Pitt,  150,  152,  163 
Plague.     See  Black-Death 
Plantation,  102 
Piatt,  Sir  H.  182 
Pococke,  R.  138 
Policy,  bullionist  126,  127 

"      colonial,  126,  133 

"       economic  120 

"       of  free  trade  244 

"      of  plenty  244 
Poll  tax,  156 
Poor,  93 
"     relief  of  91,  92,  93,  95,  loi, 
252 
Poor  Law,  94,  103,  249 

"       "       I3oard  94 
Poor-rates,  192 
Poplins,  16 

Population,  89,  221,  223,  228 
"  artisan  246 

"  degradation  of  214 


Population,  increase  of  85,  247 
"  rural  82,  83,  92,  246 

"  skilled  242 

"  town  246 

Port,  130,  131 
Porters,  229 
Portsborow,  50 
Portugal,  130 
Portuguese,  114 
Post  Office,  159- 
Poultry,  196 
Power  loom,  224 
Power,  national  89 

"      royal  24 
Power  spinning,  23 
Power  weaving,  23,  224,  225 
Propositus,  38,  40 
Pre-emption,  153,  159 
Preston,'  62 
Prices,  141 

"      competition  5 

"      customary  5,  141,  208 

"       fair  96 

"       fall  of  87,  193 

"       fluctuation  in  176,  190,  209 

"      high  86,  88 

"       lowering  of  228 

"       monopoly  210 

"       rise  of  144,  145,  211 
Printing  works,  232 
Prise,  154 
Produce,  raw  135 
Production,  expense  of  21 1 
Profit,  235,  237 
Prosperity,  131 
Protection,  100,  244,  245 
Purveyance,  159 

Railways,  119,  229,  238 
Ramparts,  Roman  10 
Rates,  92,  93 

"      increase  of  87 
Reading,  48,  54 
Recoinage,  146.     Sh  Coinage 
Regulation,  national  29,  87,  109 
Relief.     See  Outdoor  relief,  Poor 
Rents,  competition  1 81 

"      customary  141 

"      money  40 


Index. 


271 


Rents,  rise  of  184 

"      service  40,  42 
Representation,  59 
Responsibility,  collective  39,42,46 
"  economic  251 

"  personal  252 

Restoration,  123,  159,  180 
Revenue,  130,  157,  15S,  159,  160, 

162,  164,  202 
Revival  of  learning,  12 
Revolution  (1688),  116,  146.    See 

Agricultural,  Industrial 
Rhodes,  24 
Ricardo,  D.  177 

"        and  rent  193,  194 
Richard  II,  64,  65,  83,  90,  104, 

120,  121,  127 
Riots,  Eastern  Counties  222 

"      Luddite  206,  230 
Rivers,  21,  22,  24,  49 
Roads,  21,  95,  156 

"        Roman  10,  21,  24,  49 
Robinson,  Ralph  186 
Rogers,  Prof.  T.  147 
Rome,  10,  12 

"        Bp.  of  9 
Roses,  Wars  of  60 
Ross,  J.  179 
Rouen,  57 
Routes,  26 
Rovers  of  Sea,  1 1 1 
Rum,  123,  253 
Run-rig,  171 
Russia,  1 14 

"       Company  114,  115,  116 
Rye,  173 

Saddlers,  64 
Salt,  158 
Sandys,  116 
Saxons,  47 
Scilly  Isles,  18 
Scot  and  lot,  53 
Scotland,  58,  138,  180 

"  Bank  of  149 

"  trade  of  123 

"  war  of  independence  58 

Scutage,  154 
Seamanship,  48,  121,  124 


Serf,  201 

Servants,  229 

Service  personal,  153,  165,  181 

Settlement  Act  (1662),  92,  loi 

Settlements,  Greek  48 

"  Phcenician  48 

Shaftesbury,  Lord  216 
Shearing  frames,  226 
Shearmen,  204,  230 
Sheep,  38,  82,  83,  177,  178,  179 
Sheep-farming,  20,  42,  44,  65,  82, 
83,92,175,  177, 
179,  180,  181 
"  in  Australia  26 

Sheep  shearings,  186 
Sheep-walks,  43 
Shefiield,  46,  99,  231 
Shepherd,  179 
Sheriff,  32,  46,  51 
Ship-building,  124,  125,  1 26,  135 
Shipman,  63 
Ship-money,  ill 
Shipping,  21,  109,  III,   113,   118, 

121,  122,  124,  125,  132,  134 
Ships,  20 

"      Dutch  123 
Shops,  49 
Shrewsbury,  50 
Shropshire,  90 
Silk  trade,  16,  129 
Silver,    127,    128,    129,   142,    143, 
144,  145,  147,  148 

"        fall  in  value   144,  146,   157 
Skill,  199,  227,  22S,  229,  242,  243 
Slavery,  III 
Slave  trade,  134 
Slaves,  9 
Slubbers,  223 
Stubbing  engine,  222 
Smith,  A.  4,   99,   100,   105,    119, 

131,  132,  139.  163,  198,  201 
Smith,  Mr.  of  Deanston  195 
Smyrna,  112 
Soap,  98 
Solar,  31 
Soldiers,  102 

South  Sea  Company,  151,  162 
Southwark,  48 
Sovereignty  of  Sea,  143 


272       Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History. 


Spain,  25,  127 
Spices,  113 
Spindles,  224 

Spinners,  204,  218,  222,  227 
Spinning,  93,  94,    193,  217,   220, 
222,    223,    224,    226, 
228,  231,  242 
"  decay  of  domestic  223 

Spinning-jenny,  188,  222 
Spinning,  machine  86 
Spitalfields,  15 
St.  Alban's,  43,  51 
Stamford,  48 
Standard  of  comfort,  247 
Staple,  no 
State  interference,  219 

"     management  238 

"     socialism,  238 
Statute    of  Apprentices,    83,   103. 

See  Apprentices 
Statutes  of  Labourers,  105,  145 

"        of  Employment,  127 
Steam-engine,  223 
Steam   power,    18,    23,  221,  223, 

224,  225 
Steward,  38,  40 
Stewart,  Sir  J.  132 
Stirling,  49 
Stock, 192 

"       breeding  of  186 
Stock  and  land  lease,  41 
Stock  in  trade,  202 
Stock,  parish  92 
Store-keepers,  63 
Strafford,  136,  137,  158 
Stump  of  Malmesbury,  205 
Subsidy,  156,  158 
Subsistence  farming,  176,  177,  1 81, 

191,  193,  196,  207,  232 
Surface  men,  229 
Sweating,  211,  212 
Sweden,  126 
Swineherd,  248 
Swing  riots,  188 

Tailors,  60,  203 
Tallages,  154 
Tamworth,  48 
Tanners,  64 


Tanners  Company  98 

Tar,  126 

Tariffs,  hostile  165,  242,  245,  246 

"      revision  of  132 
Taverner,  J.  125 

Taxation,  32,   53,    130,   154,   155, 

156, 159, 160, 162, 192 

"  distribution  of  158,  160, 

165 

"  of  land  160 

Taxes,  46,  51,  141,  153,  154,  161 
Taylor,  S.  182 
Tea,  117,  232 
Teams,  173,  174 
Telford,  22 
Tensers,  53 
Tenths   and  fifteenths,    155,  156, 

158 
Three-field  system,  172,   173,174, 

196 
Tillage,  4,  20,  175,  178,  180,  183, 
185,  187,  192,  193,  195, 
207 

"        improvement  in  186 

"        promotion  of  82,  83,  84 
Tin,  18 
Tithe,  192 

Tobacco,  123,  134,  233 
Tolls,  95,  154 
Top  boots,  230 

Towns,  4,  13,  29,  30,  46,  47,  99, 
no,  232,  233,  234,  250 

"       burdens  of  53 

"       connexion  between  22 

"       customs  of  57,  58,  59 

"       Danish  16 

"      decay  of  47,  53 

"       English  II 

"       foreigners  in  14 

"       government  of  54 

"       progress  of  48 

"       Roman  10,  47 

"      Scotch  58 

"      taxation  of  52,  53 
Trade,  209 

"       collective  55 

"       colonial  122,  123 

"       expansion  of  229,  230 

"       foreign  no 


Index. 


273 


Trade,  municipal  52 

"     opportunity  for  47 
Trade-marks,  97 

Trade  Unions,  106,  loS,  109,  234 
Trading    Companies,    119.       See 

African  &c. 
Treasure,  89,  100,  121,  126,  127, 

130 
Treaties,  commercial  ill,  112 
Trinoda  necessitas,  95 
Trinity  House,  Dcptford,  113 
Triple  Assessment,  164 
Truck,  205 
Tudors,  100 

Turkey  Company   113,  115,  116 
Turnips,  185 
Tusser,  T.  182 

Two-held  system,  172,  173,  174 
Tyre,  24,  26 

Union,  Act  of  (1707),  123 
"       witli  Ireland  139 
"       with  Scotland  137 

Upland  men,  53 

Utensils,  233 

Vagrants,  92,  102 
Venice,  24,  26 
Vermuiden,  C.  183 
Verona,  199 
Victual  Brothers,  1 1 1 
Villa,  Roman,  9,  36 
Villeinage,  43,  45 
Villeins,  33,  34,  37,  38,  39,  40,  41, 
42,  43 
"        holding  of  38 
Virgate,    38,   42,    170,    171.     See 

Yardland 
Virginia,  134 

Wages,  89,  loi,  105,  141,  184,  197, 
208,  210,  211,  212,  213, 
221,  222,  223,  225,  226, 
231,  232,  233,  239 

"       fund  239 

"       low  188 

"       maximum  90 

"       minimum  91 

"      regulation  of  86,  90 
T 


Wages,  rise  of  87 

Wakefield,  E.  G.  102 

Walloons,  99 

Walpole,  132,  162,  163,  164 

Walter   of  Ilcnley,   30,    37,    172, 

175,  176 
Warden,  of  gilds  61 
Warehouses,  bonded  162 
War,  24 

Wars,  Napoleonic  88,   1S9,   190, 
192,  210,  212 
"       of  Roses  60 
Warwickshire,  44,  179 
Waste.      See  Common  Waste 
Waterloo,  89 

Water  power,  23,  221,  224,  225 
Water  power,  and  steam  223 
Watt,  J.  223 
Wealth,  131 

"         mineral  26 
Wealth  of  Nations.,  163,  198,  202 
Weavers,  56,   193,  204,  205,  213, 
220,    225,    226,    227, 
230,  231 

"  alien  56 

"  domestic  215 

"  gilds  56,  62 

"  linen  15,  64 

"  silk  15 

"  woollen  64,  65 

Weaving,  14,  56,   193,  225,  226, 

228,  242 
West  Indies,  133,  134,  139 
West  Riding,  222 
Weston,  Sir  R.  182 
Wheat,  173,  174,  178,  186,  192 
Whitfield,  G.  253 
Whitsuntide,  39 

William  III,  129,136, 137, 147,161 
Wills,  10 

Winchcombe  of  Newbury,  205 
Winchester,  58 

"  statute  of  no 

Wine,  154,  244,  245 
Wisby,  25 
Woburn,  186 
Wolsey,  T.  122 
Women,  in  factories  21 7 

"         in  mines  219 


274       Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History. 


Wood,  19,  126 

Wool,  20,   25,  44,   84,  135,  154, 
204,  220,  222,  223 

"        Australian  230 

"        demand  for  175 

"        export  of  20,  26,  190 

"       price  of  136,  177,  180 

Woolfells,  20 

Woollen  manufacture,  224 
"         trade,  225 

Wool  combers,  213 
"      combing,  224,  230 

Worcester,  48 

Worcestershire,  221 

Workers,  displacement  of  93 


Workhouses,  93 

Workmen,  203,  249.    See  Artisans 

Worsted  trade,  224 

Yardland,  38,  39,  170 

Yarmouth,  21,  125 

Yarn,  204,  221 

Yeomanry,  87 

Yeomen,  181,  185,  186.     See  Far- 
mers 

York,  49,  58 

"      St.  Olaf 's  48 

Yorkists,  icxd 

Yorkshire,  204,  20t;,  226,  230 

Young,  A.  185,  188,  189 


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